ATTLE OF LAKE ERIE 



WITH NOTICES OF 



COMMODORE ELLIOTS CONDUCT 



IN THAT ENGAGEMENT. 



BY HON. TRISTAM BURGES. 



PHILADELPHIA ; 
WM. MARSHALL & CO 

1839. 




Entered according to Act of Coagress, in the year 1839, by 

Francis Y. Carlile, 
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Rhode-Island. 



providence: 

E. CRANSTON & CO. PRINTERS. 



CONTENTS. 



Preface, ..... 

Lecture, .... 

Notes, ..... 

Diagram, No. 1, 

Diagram, No. 2, ... 

Diagram, No. 3, 

American Official Account, . 

British Official Account, 

English Naval Court Martial, 

American Court of Inquiry, 

Com. Perry's Letter to the Secretary of the 

Charges preferred by Commodore Perry, 

Captain Turner's Affidavit, 

Captain Stevens' Affidavit, 

Captain Champlin's Affidavit, 

Purser Breese's Affidavit, . 

Captain Brownell's Affidavit, 

Captain Taylor's Affidavit, 

Doctor Parsons' Letter, 

A Letter from an Officer, 

Elliot's Letter to Perry, 

Perry's Reply to Elliot, 



page 5 
17 
59 

70 
73 
77 
80 
85 
.. 90 
91 
93 
98 



Navy, 



103 
106 

108 
110 
112 
115 

120 
126 
*lt>8\ 
130* 



*' 



PREFACE 



In the winter of 1836, a course of lectures 
was read in the city of Providence, before the 
Historical Society of Rhode-Island. The early 
history of the State was a general theme, and, 
among other things, the maritime affairs of our 
little Commonwealth were deemed worthy of 
attention. 

The writer of the following Lecture, collect- 
ed the materials, arranged most of the lec- 
tures, and wrote several of them, for an entire 
course, on this part of our history. These 
were intended to have been read before the 
Society, after the general course was termi- 
nated ; but this was, for a sufficient reason, 



VI PREFACE. 

then omitted, and it is not now probable that 
it will ever be done. The lecture on the fleet 
and battle of Erie, was the only one of the 
course then read. 

It will be remembered, that not long before 
that time, he, who, at the beginning of that 
battle, commanded the Niagara, had publicly 
set up a claim to the whole glory of its suc- 
cessful termination. This was, doubtless, one 
reason why the printing of the following lec- 
ture was then requested, both by the Society, 
and by individuals, who regarded the achieve- 
ments of the distinguished commander of that 
fleet, as a heritage of glory, to be cherished, 
and preserved, by the whole nation. A copy 
was not then furnished, because it was be- 
lieved that the gentleman, who had been ap- 
pointed by the General Assembly of Rhode- 
Island, to write the biography of Commodore 
Perry, would soon finish, and publish that 
work. This would supersede all necessity for 
printing this lecture. 

The delay of that publication, and another 
event of a public character, have induced the 
writer of the lecture, at the anxious request 



PREFACE. Vll 

of the family and friends of Commodore Perry, 
to furnish a copy of it for the press. 

In doing this, it has been thought appropri- 
ate to give the reasons which induced the wri- 
ter to regard the fleet and battle of Erie, as a 
part of the maritime affairs of Rhode-Island. 

At the commencement of the revolution, it 
is believed that the people of Rhode-Island 
were, in their maritime character, much in ad- 
vance of any other of the Colonies. They 
had more nautical men fit to command, and 
more vessels fit for public service, than any 
other. The idea of a national fleet was first 
conceived in Rhode-Island. Of this, ample 
proof shall be furnished. 

At the August session, holden at East- 
Greenwich, Anno Salvatoris Nostrorum, 1775, 
the General Assembly of Rhode-Island made 
the first movement ever made, on this side of 
the Atlantic, to build, and establish a national 
fleet. It will be found in their own words, at 
page 103-4 of their journal ; and as no other 
words can be so apposite to their meaning, 
they will be quoted here just as they stand 
on their record. 



Vlll PREFACE. 

"Whereas, notwithstanding" the humble 
and dutiful petition of Congress to the King, 
and other wise and pacific measures, taken 
for obtaining a happy reconciliation between 
Great Britain and the Colonies ; the Ministers, 
lost to every sentiment of justice, liberty, and 
humanity, continue to send troops and ships 
of war into America, which destroy our trade, 
plunder and burn our towns, and murder the 
good people of these Colonies : 

It is, therefore, Voted and Resolved, that 
this Colony most ardently wish to see the 
former friendship, harmony, and intercourse, 
between Britain and these Colonics, restored, 
and a happy, and lasting connexion estab- 
lished between both countries upon terms of 
just and equal liberty ; and will concur with 
other colonies in all proper, and necessary 
measures for obtaining these desirable bless- 
ings ; and as every principle, divine and 
human, requires us to obey that great and 
fundamental law of nature, self-preservation, 
until peace shall be restored upon constitu- 
tional principles ; this colony will most heartily 
exert the whole power of Government, in 



PREFACE. IX 

conjunction with other colonies, for carrying* 
on this just and necessary war, and bringing" 
the same to a happy issue : and among other 
measures for obtaining this most desirable pur- 
pose, this Assembly is persuaded that the 
building and equipping an American fleet, as 
soon as possible, would greatly and essen- 
tially conduce to the preservation of the lives, 
liberty and property of the good people of these 
Colonies ; and, therefore, instruct their dele- 
gates to use their whole influence, at the 
ensuing Congress, for building, at the Conti- 
nental expense, a fleet of sufficient force for 
the protection of these Colonies, and for em- 
ploying them in such manner and places, as 
will most annoy our enemies, and contribute 
to the common defence of these Colonies : 
and they are also instructed to use all their 
influence for carrying on the war in the most 
vigorous manner until peace, liberty, and safe- 
ty be restored and secured to these colonies 
upon an equitable and permanent basis." 

That Congress to which Stephen Hopkins 
and Samuel Ward had been elected delegates, 

assembled at Philadelphia, on Wednesday, the 
l* 



X PREFACE. 

5th day of September, 1775. A quorum not 
attending on that day, they adjourned from 
day to day, until the 13th of that month. It is 
not known on what day the Rhode-Island de- 
legates took their seats in that Congress ; but, 
as it appears by the journal, vol. 1, page 147, 
" Tuesday, October 3d, one of the delegates 
from Rhode-Island laid before Congress a part 
of the instructions given them by their two 
Houses of Legislature, on the 26th of August 
last." These are, verbatim, the words of the 
Congressional record. 

These instructions are the first intimations, 
on the records of Congress, of any movement 
on the subject of a continental fleet. They 
were the germ of our United States navy. 
That germ was planted in the maritime soil 
of Rhode-Island. It has flourished ; and its 
branches now reach every sea, every ocean ; 
and the glory of our country sets in safety 
under their shade. 

Who, in our State, or our Assembly, first 
intimated the building of a national fleet, can- 
not now be known. There is no record of his 
name. It might be George Champlin, or Wil- 



PREFACE. XI 

liam Bradford, or John Brown, or Welcome 
Arnold. It was for our country a glorious 
conception ; and twin-brother to the bright 
idea of Themistocles, who taught the Atheni- 
ans that the wooden walls of the Delphic Or- 
acle, were that national navy with which they 
destroyed, or dispersed, the fleet of Xerxes, 
and secured the liberties of the Grecian States. 

It is true, our literature has hitherto been 
silent concerning our own achievements, and 
but for this humble effort, the facts, now stat- 
ed, would have been left rusting in our re- 
cords like a sword in the scabbard, until drawn 
out and held up to the world by men of other 
States. 

It is remarked by historians, that the Spar- 
tans satisfied themselves by doing gallant 
deeds ; while the Athenians not only knew 
how to perform, but also how to celebrate 
heroic exploits. 

What Decatur said of Lawrence, might be 
said of Rhode-Island. u The young fellow," 
exclaimed the hero of Tripoli, " has not much 
talk for himself ; but there is no more dodge 
in him than there is in the main-mast." 



Xll PREFACE. 

On the 25th of November, 1775, Congress 
took into consideration the rules and orders 
for the fleet of the United Colonies. On Tues- 
day, the 28th, they were debated, paragraph 
by paragraph, and finally agreed to and settled. 
December 22d, the committee for engaging 
armed vessels, reported that they had engaged 
four, viz. : 

The Columbus, Abraham Whipple, Captain ; 
the Alfred Dudley, Saltonstall, Captain ; the 
Andrew Dorea, James Biddle, Captain ; the 
Cabbott, John Burroughs Hopkins, Captain. 
That they had appointed Esek Hopkins com- 
modore of the fleet. That they had appointed 
John Paul Jones, Rhodes Arnold, Haysted 

Harker, Jonathan Pitcher, and Stanbury, 

first Lieutenants ; and Benjamin Seabury, Jo- 
seph Olney, Elisha Weaver, Thomas Weaver, 
and M'Dougal, second Lieutenants. 

This is the first American fleet which ever 
hoisted sail to the winds of heaven. The pro- 
ject of such a fleet was first proposed by the 
General Assembly of Rhode-Island. It was 
laid before Congress by the delegates from 
Rhode-Island ; as, I believe, Rhode-Island fur- 



PREFACE. Xlll 

nished two of the ships — and, we all know 
that Rhode-Island furnished the Commodore 
of the fleet ; two of the Captains ; three of the 
first, and four of the second Lieutenants ; and 
in all probability, most, if not all the other of- 
ficers and men for at least two of the ships. 

This report was received and established ; 
and Commodore Hopkins, with the fleet under 
his command, was ordered to proceed to the 
Bahama Islands, and capture the warlike stores 
of Great Britain deposited at New Providence; 
and then to cruise on the coast of the Carolinas, 
and intercept the British vessels found in those 
waters. 

The first of these orders was fulfilled to the 
letter. For the Commodore more than load- 
ed his fleet with those stores ; and was obliged 
to impress one of the colonial vessels to aid in 
bringing' away the captured cannon and mu- 
nitions of war. It is believed he sailed from 
the United Colonies early in February, 1776 ; 
for on the 3d of March, of that year, he cap- 
tured the fort at New Providence. 

After this success, his fleet being deeply 
laden with stores so highly important to the 



XIV PREFACE. 

Colonies, he, to secure these valuable stores, 
returned directly, and unladed them at New- 
London. 

Sir Peter Parker was, at the same time, ap- 
proaching Charleston, S. C, with a powerful 
British fleet. He made his attack on that 
place, June 17th, 1776 ; and had Commodore 
Hopkins cruised on that coast, he must have, 
in all probability, met the English fleet of much 
greater force than his own, and nothing short 
of a miracle could have saved his fleet with 
all their stores, from capture and entire loss. 

On the 19th of August, 1776, Commodore 
Hopkins was ordered by Congress to join the 
fleet. In the following November, the rank 
and pay of naval officers were raised, and a 
bounty given on captured guns. 

The ranks, above Captain, were Admiral, 
Vice-Admiral, Rear-Admiral, and Commodore. 
Esek Hopkins, of North-Providence, in the 
State of Rhode-Island, was the first, and the 
only American, who, in an American fleet, 
bore the title of Admiral. 

These facts prove, that, at the commence- 
ment of the Revolution, the people of Rhode- 



PREFACE. XV 

Island were in advance of the other colonies, 
in skill and enterprise in naval affairs. They 
also prove, that the American navy, which 
bears over the ocean, and in view of all na- 
tions, the power of our country, was origin- 
ated in Rhode-Island. 

When these things are considered, and it 
is called to mind that Commodore Perry was 
a native of Rhode-Island, and that he carried 
with him from that State up to the lake, those 
men, who, under his direction, with the aid of 
a few others, built and equipped that fleet, 
which, under his command, subdued the ene- 
my on those waters, it is not too much to re- 
gard this distinguished enterprise as a part of 
the maritime affairs of Rhode-Island. Be this 
as it may, the achievement was glorious for 
our country, and no manner of considering it 
can diminish its merits or tarnish its splendor. 

Nothing more is claimed for the Lecture 
than what may be due to a plain and true ac- 
count of the fleet and battle, drawn from a 
faithful examination of all the evidence in the 
case. 

Providence, August, A. D. 1839. 



LECTURE. 



It is the purpose of the present lecture to 
give a concise narrative of the fleet and battle 
on Lake Erie. 

In the summer of 1812, Oliver Hazard 
Perry, of Rhode-Island, a young man, Cap- 
tain in the United States Navy, was com- 
mander of a flotilla of gun-boats, which, — as 
Burke says of chivalry, had been deemed in 
our country the cheap defence of nations, — 
collected for the protection of the waters of 
our coast, from Newport to New York. 

In the winter of 1812-13, he was ordered to 
Lake Erie, to take the command, and provide 
a fleet for that station. The enemy had then, 



18 LECTURE. 

on those waters, two ships, two brigs, ana 
several schooners and sloops, in all, mounting 
more than sixty-four guns. The Americans 
had the Caledonia, a brig, afterwards mount- 
ing three guns, and two or three unarmed 
small schooners or sloops. The British had, 
by land as well as by water, the entire com- 
mand of that lake ; and the frontier, border- 
ing upon it, was at the mercy of General Proc- 
tor and his savage allies. 

Commodore Perry arrived at Erie on the 
26th of March, 1813. He carried with him 
from Newport, 149 men and 3 boys, all of 
whom v/ere volunteers. Some were commis- 
sioned officers, some warrant officers, some ar- 
tificers, some seamen, and some ordinary sea- 
men. About one third of the petty officers and 
men remained at Sackett's Harbor, for service 
on Lake Ontario. This was done by the order 
of Commodore Chauncey, the commander on 
that lake. It greatly retarded the operations 
of Perry on lake Erie ; and was, doubtless, in- 
tended by Chauncey to have that effect. They 
had left Newport, February 19th, with Perry. 



LECTURE. 19 

and had volunteered from pure personal at- 
tachment to him. 

Nothinsr can show this attachment to Perrv 
more strongly than the fact, that James Wea- 
ver, a master's mate, who, a boy, when Bar- 
ton captured Prescott, was then his guide, 
now volunteered to go to Erie with his gallant 
young townsman, in the dead of winter, to 
this unknown northern service. 

The fleet of Eneas, so Maro sings, when 
riding at anchor in the Tyber, and, in his ab- 
sence attacked by the Rutulians, and likely to 
be burned, was, by a miracle of poetic my- 
thology, changed into a shoal of dolphins, and 
went off sporting down the stream ; and if so, 
they may, for aught we know, be at this time 
playing about the mouth of that river ; or 
shewing their bright sides to the sun, in other 
parts of the Tyrean sea. 

Perry, and his hardy Rhode-Island mari- 
ners, travelled up to the lake, for something 
not quite so poetic. 

They were required to change the oaks, and 
the green pines and hemlocks, then standing 
on those shores, into a fleet of ships and ves- 



20 LECTURE. 

sels, and fit them out to encounter, and over- 
come, in battle, on those waters, a fleet then 
armed, equipped and manned with British sail- 
ors ; men, who had never, before that time, 
met an equal, in any fleet, on that element. 

In this there was no poetry, nor any other 
miracle than bone labor, matchless skill, and 
unconquerable bravery. 

Every Yankee is an axe man ; and all the 
companions of Perry were of the full blood ; 
and most of them the best of that blood, the 
Rhode-Island stock. 

These, with a few more shipwrights, smiths, 
caulkers, riggers, and sailmaker^, built and 
equipped this fleet ; and launched the whole 
into the harbor of Erie, rigged and ready to 
sail, in about ninety days, after the first blow 
was struck. 

They built from the stump, six vessels ; the 
Lawrence, of twenty guns — two long twelves, 
and eighteen 24 pound carronades ; the Nia- 
gara, of two long twelves, and eighteen 24 
pound carronades ; the Ariel, of four guns, 18\s 
and 24's ; the Scorpion, of two guns, thirty- 



LECTURE, 21 

twos ; the Porcupine, of one gun, a thirty-two; 
and the Tigress, of one gun, a thirty-two. 

During the same time, they repaired and 
made efficient, the Caledonia, of three guns, 
24's and 32's-; the Somers, of two guns, thir- 
ty-twos ; the Trippe, of one gun, a thirty-two, 
and the Ohio, of like force, but not in the 
battle. 

At the mouth of the harbor of Erie, there is 
a bar ; and on this, the water was then so 
shallow, that the vessels could not be floated 
out over it. They had been built in this place, 
because, in no other on the lake, could they 
be secure from the enemy. 

To carry them out over the bar, in the face 
of this enemy, superior in force, had they all 
been furnished with guns, and, as it must be, 
entirely unarmed, was a labor, which tasked 
the Yankee invention, no less than the valor, 
of the vounsr Commodore and his associates. 

Thev were loaded on the backs of camels, 

and carried out over the bar into deep water. 

An Arab, who, from the back of his camel, on 

the desert, had, at a safe distance, looked at 
2* 



LECTURE. 

the French and English fleets, in the bay oi 
Abouker, would not believe a word of all this 

story. 

It is literally true. These camels were of 
simple mechanism, and American manufac- 
ture. They were long, broad, deep boxes, 
made of planks, like scows, and perfectly wa- 
ter tight ; with holes to fill, and sink, and 
pumps to exhaust them of water, and raise 
them so as to float with their upper edge high 
above the surface. These, placed on each 
side, and connected by strong beams, on which 
the vessels being placed when they were sunk; 
thus raised the vessels up above the bar, when 
the camels were pumped out, and rose again 
by their own buoyancy. 

The guns of the fleet had been mounted in 
batteries on the shore ; and the militia, under 
General Mead, then encamped in the neigh- 
borhood, were embodied, and united with the 
seamen in defending these vessels, while they 
were thus travelling over the bar, on the 
backs of these able bodied camels. 

Thus, in the face of an enemy, superior in 
force, this fleet was built, put afloat, and 



LECTURE, 23 

equipped. The enemy, however, before they 
were ready to make sail, withdrew to the har- 
bor near Maiden ; and retired under the guns 
of the British fortress. 

The American fleet, when ready for sailing, 
consisted of the Lawrence, the flag vessel of 
Commodore Perry ; the Niagara, afterwards 
Captain Elliott ; the Caledonia, Lieutenant 
Turner ; the Ariel, Lieutenant Packett ; the 
Scorpion, Sailing-Master Champlin ; the Som- 
ers, Sailing-Master Almy ; the Trippe, Lieu- 
tenant Stevens ; the Tigress, Lieutenant Conk- 
lin ; the Porcupine, Midshipman Smith. The 
Ohio had sailed down the lake, on other ser- 
vice, before the 10th of September, and was 
not in the battle. 

These nine vessels, mounted, in all, fifty-four 
guns ; ten less than the British fleet. The 
Lawrence, the Niagara, the Caledonia, the 
Ariel, and the Scorpion, were all equally good 
and fine sailers ; but the Somers, Trippe, Ti- 
gress, and Porcupine, were dull. 

The British vessels were stout built, with 
thick bulwarks of solid oak ; but the Ameri- 
can were built in a hasty manner, and intend- 



24 LECTURE. 

ed merely to carry guns and men ; and bring 
them down along side of their adversary. 

So soon as Perry had mounted his guns on 
board, he pushed out on a cruise ; but manned 
in a considerable part by brave fellows from 
the militia. They run np, and over the lake, 
to the British side, and passed their fleet, then 
in port ; but no movement being made by the 
enemy to come out, and capture the Ameri- 
cans, they leisurely sailed down the lake, and 
then up again to their port, at Put-in-Bay. 

At the pressing request of Perry, Commo- 
dore Chauncey sent him one hundred men, up 
from Ontario, under the command of Captain 
Elliot. He took the command of the Niagara, 
before commanded by Lieutenant Turner, of 
Newport. The one hundred men, brought 
with him, were all able bodied, and had been 
in considerable service, on the waters of On- 
tario and Erie. Most of these went on board 
the Niagara, with Elliot. This gave that ves- 
sel a decided superiority, in that respect, to 
any other in the fleet. 

In model, in equipment, in rigging, sails and 
movement, she was, before that, on a par 



LECTURE. 25 

with the Lawrence ; and these men having 
been in more service, more brave they could 
not be, gave the Niagara a decided superiority 
in that respect, to the Lawrence. 

Lieutenant Turner mentioned this to Com- 
modore Perry, when Elliot was calling the 
men who came with him, to their several 
stations ; but because Elliot had brought 
them up to Erie with him, the Commodore 
declined altering his arrangement. 

The deficiency of men in the fleet, was 
supplied by brave fellows, volunteering from 
the ranks of General Harrison's army. 

This army was then encamped in the neigh- 
borhood of the fleet ; and waiting the event 
of the battle, which, it was believed, would 
enable the Commodore to transport the Gen- 
eral and his troops, to the other side, to en- 
counter General Proctor, and the British 
forces then near Maiden. 

The Americans were eager to engage, and 
open the way into Canada. General Harrison 
and his brave companions, were anxious to 
have an opportunity to wash off in their own 
blood, the foul blot, placed on the American 



26 LECTURE. 

character, by the retreat, and surrender of 
Maiden and Detroit ; and by driving the 
British and their Indian allies, from Upper 
Canada, to secure the frontiers of Michigan, 
Ohio, Pennsylvania and New-York. 

How long the British fleet might have kept 
their shelter, in the harbor of Maiden, is not 
known. Exigencies called them out ; the 
want of provision, in the British army, com- 
pelled them to put out, and attempt to clear 
the lake of the American fleet; so that they 
might, with safety, run down to Long Point, 
their depot of stores, and provision the camp. 

The British fleet had a veteran commander, 
the American, a young sailor. Barclay had 
conquered with Nelson, at Traffalgar; Perry had 
probably never seen the combined movement of 
ships, in a fleet, formed in line of battle. 

The two fleets might be equal in number of 
men ; but all, in the British, were seamen, or 
marines, or soldiers ; while many, in the 
American, were militia, or new levies, from 
the ranks of the army. 

In number of vessels, we exceeded by three ; 
the enemy had a superiority of ten in the 



LECTURE. 27 

number of guns. The vessels of the enemy 
were impervious to the shot of our carronades; 
but their long guns hulled the thin sides of 
our vessels, through and through. Let him 
be praised who has told us that " the battle 
is not always to the strong." 

Two of the British vessels were ships; none 
of the American were better provided with 
masts, spars, rigging, and sails, than brigs 
might carry. The Detroit, Commodore Bar- 
clay's flag ship, had nineteen guns only; but 
they were long 12% 18's and 24's. He was 
supported in his command, by Captain Fin- 
nis, of the Queen Charlotte ; in the whole 
fleet were three Captains and the Commodore. 
While in the American, there was but two 
Captains, Perry and Elliot ; all the other ves- 
sels were commanded by Lieutenants, Sailing- 
Masters, or Midshipmen. 

The evening before the battle, the order of 
engagement was settled. By this, Captain 
Elliot, in the Niagara, was to lead the van; 
and it was determined, to attack the enemy, 
at their anchorage, if they did not come out 
to engage. On the morning of the 10th, when 



28 LECTURE. 

the enemy hove in sight, and had formed with 
their flag ship at the head of the line ; Perry 
who had determined to attack that ship him- 
self, changed the order of sailing, run down to 
the encounter, and took the van himself. 

This change in the order of sailing, was in- 
stantly communicated to the whole fleet, by 
signal. 

The young Commodore, at the close of the 1 
council of war, on the evening of the 9th, told 
his officers that he could not better advise 
them than in the words of Nelson : " If you lay I 
your enemy along side, you cannot be out of your ' : 
place." 

He then gave the order to each command- 
ing officer of the fleet, in writing. This order 
closed with these words : " Engage each your 
designated adversary, in close action, at half cable's 
length." In this designation the Lawrence 
was opposed to the Detroit ; the Caledonia^ 
with three guns, to the Hunter with ten ; the 
Niagara, to the Queen Charlotte. 

In the American fleet, defectively manned 
as they were, one hundred and sixteen mei ' 
and officers, were on the sick-list, and unfit fo "• 



- 



LECTURE. 29 

duty on the morning of the 10th of Septem- 
ber, 1813, when they made sail, and stood out 
to encounter the enemy. 

I have, perhaps, been prolix, in stating the 
particular circumstances of these two fleets ; 
because I find myself placed in the condition, 
not of the eulogist, but of the historian ; and, 
under the most solemn obligation to do exact 
justice, even here, in this very limited num- 
ber of American people assembled in this 
place : to do justice, I say, in every word I ut- 
ter ; and that, too, between the living and the 
dead. 

For after a lapse of more than twenty-two 
years, from the day of that memorable battle, 
and fourteen years after Commodore Perry 
has been laid in his grave; while, during all 
this period of time, America and Europe, 
have, with one voice, awarded to him the 
honor of this triumphant victory, Captain 
Elliot has, very lately, claimed that honor for 
himself. 

In the summer of 1836, a book of 480 octavo 
pages, was published at Philadelphia, as it 
purports ; but with the name of no printer and 



30 LECTURE. 

no writer annexed to it. This book is entitled 
" Biographical Notes of Commodore Jesse D. 
Elliot." About 250 pages of this book are 
devoted to an account of the battle on Lake 
Erie. It contains a great number of letters, 
addressed to Commodore Elliot, and which 
could be controlled by no one but himself. 
The book must, therefore, be regarded as 
autobiography. 

Commodore Perry, in the moment of victo- 
ry, flushed with youth and triumph ; on the 
eve of the 10th, says, in his first despatch to 
the Secretary of the Navy, " It has pleased 
the Almighty to give the arms of the United 
States a signal victory over their enemies 
on this lake." 

Commodore Elliot, who, on that day, com- 
manded the Niagara, says in the 35th page of 
his book : " It is not doing too much to say, 
that to /urn," Jesse D. Elliot, " the country is 
principally indebted for the honor of that splendid 
victory.'''' 

In page 195, he repeats that u it is proved to 
the satisfaction of every candid reader, that Captain 
Elliot was CHIEFLY instrumental in gaining the 



LECTURE. 31 

victory on Lake Erie." These are sweeping 
claims ; they should be examined with candor 
and without resentment. 

Jesse D. Elliot, now a Commodore in the 
United States navy, comes with his claim 
against Oliver Hazard Perry, in his grave, 
for a reversal of the long established judgment 
of the world. He calls Pennsylvania, the 
vState where he was born, to support his claim 
against Rhode-Island, the birth-place of Perry. 
If Rhode-Island never before lowered her flag 
to Pennsylvania, yet, if justice require it, let 
her lower it now. Nevertheless, first of all, 
review the case ; and then decide. I will, im- 
partially, state the facts ; and you, in the same 
spirit, may judge. 

On the night of the 9th of September, 1813, 
the American fleet lay moored at Put-in-Bay, 
on the southwest shore of Erie. At daylight 
on the 10th, the enemy were discovered from 
the mast head of the Lawrence, far up the 
lake in the northwest. This was, by signal, 
immediately communicated to the fleet ; and, 
at the same time, the signal was given to get 
under weierh. Perrv told his officers and men. 



32 LECTURE. 

that the enemy should fight that day. The 
wind being southwest, and light, the Commo- 
dore inquired of Sailing-Master Taylor wheth- 
er he could work out of the bay, to the wind- 
ward of the islands, at the mouth of it. When 
told he could not, "then," said he, " wear 
ship ; go out to the leeward, and give the en- 
emy the wind of us." Before this could be 
done, the wind started from southwest to 
southeast, and gave our squadron a fair pas- 
sage out, to the windward of that of the ene- 
my. By this event, the American fleet, and 
every vessel of them, was enabled to take and 
to keep any distance from her adversary, which 
each of them might choose. This fact must be 
continually recollected, as we go on through 
the whole conflict. There had been a strug- 
gle, by the English Commodore, to get the 
weathergage ; but, as it appears, after the 
wind had shifted, and settled into the south- 
east, he gave it up, and at 10 o'clock, A. M., 
hove to in a line of battle, with his ships 
heading to the westward, and at the distance 
of about three leagues, 



LECTURE. 3$ 

Commodore Perry, soon after, hoisted his 
broad pennant on board the Lawrence, in- 
scribed with the immortal words of him whose 
name his vessel bore — " DonH give up the ship." 
And at the sight of it, the loud huzzas of the 
mariners resounded over the lake, from deck 
to deck, along- the whole American line ; and 
awakened the echoes which had been sleep- 
ing on those waters and shores, ever since the 
morning stars sang together. Our fleet ap- 
proached the enemy, at an angle of about thirty 
degrees ; so that, when the van-ship, the Law- 
rence, came into close action with the Detroit, 
the third, the Niagara, might be out of car- 
ronade shot distance. The signal was given, 
by the Commodore, for each ship to engage 
her adversary, as she came up, and as desig- 
nated in previous orders. Remember, those 
orders made the Lawrence the adversary of 
the Detroit, the Caledonia of the Hunter, and 
the Niagara of the Queen Charlotte ; and 
there, in full view, lay those gallant British 
adversaries, with topsails back to the mast, 
with matches lighted, coolly waiting for the 

attack and the conflict. 
3* 



34 LECTURE. 

The breeze being- light, the American fleet 
was two hours in bearing- down under all sail 
over this smooth surface of nine miles. The 
wind, though light, was steady ; and not a 
new movement was made in steerage, running 
geer, or sail. All were silent. It was, in 
both fleets, the stillness of the elements, be- 
fore the storm of the hurricane. I will not 
believe one bosom palpitated with fear ; but 
many a one beat with an aspiration, and a 
hope for victory. In that awful pause, when 
at times, every eye glanced on every other 
eye, and all' were mingling souls in a sympa- 
thy of courage and daring among their com- 
rades and commanders, how many young 
hearts, for the last time, breathed a sigh and 
prayed a prayer, for home, parents, brothers, 
sisters, and for u the bosom friend dearer than 
all ?" Many a bright and moist eye looked, 
for the last time, on the green shores and 
sunny hills of their country. Rashness, with- 
out courage, may rush thoughtlessly into the 
battle; but nothing but valor of soul can stand 
unmoved, and wait for the coming conflict o f 
life or death, victorv or defeat. 



LECTURE. 35 

They stood every man silent at his post ; 
while the breath of heaven, born to fill the 
sails of commerce, and which never had be- 
fore, seemed reluctant now, on those quiet 
waters, to aid men in mutual destruction. 

At fifteen minutes before 12, M., Commodore 
Perry gave the signal for close action ; and 
then by trumpet, sent down, from ship to ship, 
along the whole line, a repetition of the order, 
14 Engage your adversary, each as you come 
up, as before directed." This, be it remem- 
bered, was, in close action at half cable's length. 

At fifteen minutes before 12, M., the British 
Commodore commenced the action, by a dis- 
charge from his long guns, at the Lawrence. 
Perry still bore down in gallant style, and 
retained his fire, receiving that of the enemy, 
until the British began to apprehend, that his 
design was to board. At five minutes before 
12, M., Perry opened his fire. Not intending 
to lose a single shot, he ordered the first divi- 
sion only of his broadside to be fired. He 
then inquired of Lieutenant Yarnall if the shot 
of his carronades told? Being answered in the 
negative, he ordered Sailing-Master Taylor 



M LECTURE. 

to direct the helm put up, and run down, and 
close in with the enemy. He ran down, till 
every carronade and every musket might 
reach its mark. Taylor says within canister 
distance ; Perry says, in his dispatch and ac- 
count of the battle, at half canister ; and Yar- 
nall, who was ordered to note if the shot told, 
says at half musket shot ; 50 yards, 150 feet ; 
not quite so far as from where I stand to the 
foot of the bridge. In this position, at this 
slaughtering distance, the Lawrence encoun- 
tered the Detroit, and there sustained the 
conflict with her, and the vessels which came 
to her aid, for two and one half hours. The 
Ariel, Lieutenant Packed, and the Scorpion, 
Sailing-Master Champlin, were just ahead, 
on her weather bow ; and the Caledonia, 
Lieutenant Turner, just astern, on her lee- 
ward quarter, during almost the whole ac- 
tion.* 

The Niagara was astern of the Lawrence, 
and the Caledonia abeam of the Queen Char- 
lotte in the line of approach, when the action 



*See Diagram, No. 1, in the Appendix. 



LECTURE. 37 

commenced. She, at first, discharged her 
first division ; but when their shot fell short 
of the Queen Charlotte, Captain Elliot did not 
order the helm put up, and run down to within 
half cable's length of his adversary, the Queen 
Charlotte ; but it is admitted, by him in his book, 
that he directed his Lieutenant to cease firing 
with the carronades, and^re with the long twelves 
only. The Queen Charlotte had 2(Ts, to the 
Niagara's 24 pound carronades, but no long 
guns ; and, therefore, as she could neither reach 
the Niagara with her carronades, nor run up 
against the wind, and lay her along side, she 
packed on all sail, and run down to the aid of 
the Detroit and laid the Lawrence and the 
Caledonia along side at half past 12 o'clock, 
M. For the Hunter had just made sail, and 
run, not from the conflict with the Caledonia, 
but up to the head of the line, to aid the Lit- 
tle Belt, against the Scorpion and the Ariel. 

This movement of the Queen Charlotte, is 
by Captain Elliot, in his autobiography, styled, 
her making sail, and running away from the Ni- 
agara ; but he does not say he made sail and 
run down after her, as he might : For if there 



38 LECTURE. 

were wind enough for the Queen Charlotte to 
run away, there was wind enough for the Ni- 
agara to run after her. He admits, in that 
book, that instead of making all sail, and run- 
ning down upon his adversary, the Queen 
Charlotte, as he had been ordered to do, no 
less than three times, and engaging her at 
half cable's length, he threw his topsail to 
the mast and brailed up his jib, so as to keep 
his position on the water as nearly as practi- 
cable. Every nautical man will tell us that 
this position of the sails would hold his ship 
to the wind, and keep her in her then present 
place ; so that, all the ships engaged, would 
be sagging slowly ahead,, and to the leeward ; 
until the Caledonia and the Lawrence were 
directly between the Niagara and the Detroit 
and the Queen Charlotte. If he fired then, it 
must have been at the Chippewa of one gun. 
For the Lady Prevost had been wounded in 
the rudder, and soon fell to the leeward out 
of the reach of his carronades or long guns. 
If, then, after one o'clock, the Niagara fired 
at the Detroit or the Queen Charlotte, it must 



LECTURE. 39 

have been across the Lawrence and the Cale- 
donia.* 

The Somers, of two 32% and the Trippe of 
one 32, were astern of the Niagara for a long 
time ; for they had been destined to support 
the Niagara, as the Ariel and the Scorpion 
supported the Lawrence. The Tigress and 
the Porcupine, both dull sailers, armed with, 
each a thirty-two, were still more astern of 
the Niagara. These four gun-boats were, with 
their heavy ordnance, firing at long shots on 
the Chippewa and Lady Prevost. 

The Lawrence for two and a half hours sus- 
tained the fire of the Detroit ; and for two 
hours, that of the Detroit, Queen Charlotte, 
and most of that of the Hunter ; forty-four 
guns, with all the marines, at half musket 
shot. 

The British Commodore ordered all his fire 
from all three vessels turned on the Lawrence. 
For here he believed was the bone and mus- 
cle, and here he knew was the soul and spirit 
of the battle. If Perry were slain, and his 

*See Diagram, No. 2, in the Appendix. 



40 LECTURE. 

ship captured, the smaller vessels would fall 
of course. He seems not to have regarded 
the Niagara as then in the action. 

Elliot, in his autobiography, declares that 
it was evidently the plan of the British com- 
mander, to disable our heaviest ships, in de- 
tail ; and thus to insure the capture of the 
whole. In proof of this, he asserts, and this 
assertion is literally true, that at half past 12, 
the Queen Charlotte made all sail and left the 
Niagara, and bore down and attacked and di- 
rected all her fire on the Lawrence. 

Why, then, in the name of bravery and fair 
companionship, did not he, with the same 
wind and enough sail, and as much speed, 
bear down and follow her ? Why did he, as 
he admits he did, fling his topsail to the mast, 
furl his top-gallant sails, and brail up his jib ? 
Why did he, for two hours after the Queen 
Charlotte left him, leave the Lawrence ex- 
posed to the murderous fire of forty-four guns, 
supported only by nine in the Caledonia, Ariel, 
and Scorpion ; whilst he had twenty, with the 
wind whistling into their muzzles, when he 
might have been pouring the round, grape, 



LECTURE. 41 

and canister, roaring out of them, against the 
enemy, at half musket shot ? There is no evi- 
dence that a musket, or more than one divi- 
sion of one broadside of the carronades, was 
fired on board the Niagara, or that this was 
more than once discharged. It does not satis- 
factorily appear that after this first division, 
any thing was fired during the whole two 
hours and a half, except the two long twelves, 
or until Perry boarded her at 45 minutes after 
2 o'clock, P. M. 

On board the Lawrence, as an eye-witness 
has stated, the most perfect order prevailed 
during the whole action. There was no noise, 
no bustle, no confusion ; as fast as the men 
were wounded, they were carried below, and 
others stepped into their places. The dead 
lay where they fell, until the action was over. 
Commodore Perry, during the whole time, 
says this eye witness, exhibited a cool, col- 
lected, and dignified bravery ; his countenance 
was, the whole time, as composed as if he had 
been engaged in ordinary duty. 

Not a murmur, not a complaint, was heard 

in the ship ; while the balls — canister, grape, 
4 



\% LECTURE. 

and bullets, were sweeping over, and driving 
through them, like a storm of hail; the slain 
and the wounded falling on every side ; and 
the blood gushing, in streams over the decks, 
from many a young and gallant heart. 

There was one, and but one sentiment of 
regret, and throughout all the battle, that was 
discoverable. It was expressed, at times, in 
words, to the commander, by Yarnall, by 
Taylor, by Forrest. It was uttered, in groans, 
by the wounded, when carried below ; and 
breathed out with the last breath, by the dying 
on the deck ; and the gallant Laub, the brave 
and accomplished Brooks, lifting a last eye to 
heaven, and sending a last wish to home, died 
with this bitter regret on their lips — " Why, 
why does not the Niagara come down and help us /" 

Perry could say nothing to the severely 
wounded, or to the dead; but of the unhurt, and 
those who though wounded kept, or returned 
to the deck, he was the life and soul. Un- 
touched himself, and, covered, as he must 
have been on that day, by a shield, impen- 
etrable, though invisible ; he, from, hour to 
hour, continued to encourage and cheer then. 



LECTURE. 43 

all to fight on, till their consort should come down 
and take her part in the battle. He, himself, 
worked with his own hands at the last srun ; 
and when that was disabled, by a shot of the 
enemy, he had but himself, his little brother, 
and fourteen men alive, and unhurt on board. 
Then, when Lieutenant Yarnall, and his other 
officers, Taylor, and Forrest, again uttered 
their astonishment, that the Niagara still 
hugged the wind, and kept at a distance, freshened 
as the breeze was, by such a blaze from so 
many guns, for two and a half hours ; " Lower 
the boat," he exclaimed, "and I will go and 
bring her down." The boat— yes, while the ship 
was a mere rock, in that storm of battle, the 
boat was lowered away from the quarter where 
she had been hung swinging as a mark for ev- 
ery shot, and was at that moment, like the 
commander, untouched and perfectly sound. 
He jumped in, with his broad pennant under 
his arm ; and his last words to Lieutenant 
Yarnall were, " I leave it to your discretion to 
strike, or not ; but the American colors must 
not be pulled down over my head to-day." 
He jumped into the boat, with eight stout sea- 



44 LECTURE. 

men at the oars ; and put off at thirty minutes 
after two, for the Niagara. The British ships 
soon saw, and directed and discharged their 
whole fire at him, standing, as he did, erect 
in the stern of the boat. Nor was it the show- 
er of balls, grape, canister, and bullets, but 
the earnest request, and entreating tears of 
his crew, which induced him to sit down. 
With all the speed that these eight men, at 
the oars, could give to the boat, and she must 
have sprung away like a race horse trained 
to the course ; how long was it before she 
reached the larboard side of the Niagara, and 
the Commodore sprung up her gangway ? 
What a transition, from the shattered decks 
and slaughtered crew of the Lawrence, to a 
ship so fresh, thai as he said, " when he found 
the guns, spars, sails, rigging, all sound, and 
not a man killed on board, he stepped lightly 
on the quarter deck." Elliot was, at his own 
request, sent along the line of gun-boats, at 
several distances astern, to urge down the 
Somers, Tigress, and Porcupine. 

The Trippe, Lieutenant Stevens, had be- 
fore pushed down to the support of the Cale- 



LECTURE. 45 

donia. The Commodore's flag was displayed on 
the Niagara, and the signal given to the ves- 
sels astern, for close action, as Perry says, at 
forty-five, as Yarnall says, at forty-eight min- 
utes after two o'clock. 

Soon after Perry left the Lawrence, she fell 
astern ; and Yarnall, with the advice of the 
other officers, when further opposition was not 
practicable, struck the colors. While these 
things were in progress, Lieutenant Turner, 
before lying on the weather quarter of the 
Detroit, bore down, and took a position along 
side of that vessel. 

Lieutenant Stevens, in the Trippe, a little 
sloop of one long thirty -two, had succeeded to 
that place, so long held by Turner in the Cal- 
edonia, on the weather quarter of the Detroit. 
These gallant young men, without slackening 
their fire, had exchanged signals for boarding 
the Detroit; when you may imagine with what 
delight they saw the gallant Commodore bear- 
ing down in the Niagara, under a press of 
sail. 

He broke through the enemy's line ; passed 

between the Hunter and Detroit, at half pis- 

4* 



48 LECTURE. 

tol shot, thirty feet, from each ; and from all 
his guns double shotted with round, grape, or 
canister, poured his broadsides into these 
devoted vessels. Rounding to, opposed to 
the taffrail of the Queen Charlotte, then, by 
her bowsprit, entangled in the mizzen rigging 
of the Detroit, he began a raking fire, from 
end to end of both their decks. 

The Queen Charlotte in this situation, and 
seeing the Somers, then commanded by Elliot, 
with the Tigress, and Porcupine, pressing 
down with sweeps and sails, struck her colors. 
The call being made to the Detroit, she gave 
up the contest.* 

The Lady Prevost and Hunter, both disa- 
bled, pulled down their colors. The Little 
Belt, at the head, and Chippewa at the rear 
of the line, made all sail and run ; but the 
Scorpion, Lieutenant Champlin, and Trippe, 
Lieutenant Stevens, pursued ; and after a 
close chase, took and brought them back. 
The victory was won ; was complete ; not a 
sail of the enemy escaped. 

*See Diagram, No. 3, in the Appendix. 



LECTURE. 47 

The echo of the cannon, and of the triumph- 
ant shout, died away on the lake and the 
shores. The winds of heaven swept the 
volumes of smoke off from the shattered fleets. 
The setting sun looked back on the decks and 
the waters, crimsoned with the blood of the 
valiant. 

A feeling of awe is on the heart of every 
living man, who comes unhurt out of a tremen- 
dous battle. For a time every human voice 
was silent. All paused ; the groans of the 
wounded and the dying only were heard. 
The victors were too proud to exult; the van- 
quished, too brave to complain. All had, that 
morning, sent a seaman's prayer to heaven 
for success in the same language ; and after 
the conflict, they met on the same decks 
where they had fought ; and mingled saluta- 
tions, each with the other, in his own mother 
tongue. All united in the care of the wound- 
ed and the burial of the dead ; and these 
brave officers, American and British, who fell, 
cheering their seamen on to mutual conflict, 
were, by the survivors, laid side by side in 
their graves, on the shore of those waters 



48 LECTURE. 

where they had fallen, and were alike hon- 
ored and lamented by the mingled tears of 
friends and foes, and the united music and can- 
non of both fleets. 

The brave are always merciful and compas- 
sionate ; Commodore Barclay expressed the 
warmest gratification at Perry's attention to 
his wounded prisoners ; said he had earned 
by it for himself immortal honor ; and after- 
wards, at an entertainment and ball given to 
him, and attended by the bravery and beauty 
of Canada, he gave as a toast, with great ap- 
plause ; " Commodore Perry, the gallant and 
generous enemy." 

After this victory,* Commodore Perry, with 
the fleet, transported General Harrison and 
his army over the lake ; joined the forces as 
volunteer aid of the Commander in Chief; 
was with General Cass, as his other aid, at 
his side in the battle of the Thames, where 
the whole army of Proctor was either cap- 
tured or destroyed. 

This victory, the fruit of that on Lake Erie, 

*See Note A. 



LECTURE. 49 

demolished the British forces in Upper Cana- 
da ; dispersed the north-west confederacy of 
Indian tribes and warriors ; who immediately 
threw themselves on the mercy of the United 
States ; and thus secured the whole frontier, 
from Lake Ontario to the Mississippi. 

This fleet of Erie is the first American fleet, 
which, in line of battle, encountered an ene- 
my. It was commanded, as the first conti- 
nental fleet had been, by a Rhode-Island man ; 
and to a great extent, built, and officered, and 
manned by Rhode-Island men. Will the peo- 
ple of this State be unmindful of the reputation 
of those men ; their own fellow-citizens, who 
laid the foundation, and raised that superstruc- 
ture, which was by them, aided by others 
equally brave, so ornamented and adorned, by 
such victories and such national benefits ? 

How mortifying* to the patriot, that, after 
more than twenty years, such a mist of delu- 
sion should by any cause, be spread over any 
part of the American people ; that any one 
man could be found to doubt and question the 
title of Oliver Hazard Perry to the glory of 
that distinguished naval victory ! Still more 



50 LECTURE. 

astonishing-, that title is not only questioned, 
but another has boldly claimed that glory for 
himself. 

If yon are not already wearied by the length 
of this narrative, permit me to state two or 
three things, which are either admitted by 
this new candidate for this honor, or cannot 
be controverted by him. 

At the close of the battle, Perry set up no 
exclusive claims to the glory of the victory. He 
submitted all, with unexampled modesty, to 
the award of his country. 

Look at his despatches ; does he tell what / 
have done ? To General Harrison — u We have 
met the enemy, and they are ours." To the 
Secretary of the Navy — cc It has pleased the 
Almighty to give to the arms of the United 
States a signal victory over their enemies on 
this lake. The British squadron consisting of 
two ships, two brigs, one schooner, and one 
sloop, have this moment surrendered to the 
force under my command, after a sharp con- 
flict." 

Nothing can be so conspicuous as the mo- 
desty, unless it be the piety, of this most per- 



LECTURE. 51 

feet of all naval despatches. How could lie 
say less of himself ? The victory had been 
given by Him who gives all things — had been 
given, not to him, but to the American arms. 
The British squadron had surrendered to the 
force ; what force ? He could not avoid say- 
ino 1 , to the force under my command. One 
epithet only, tells the nature of the battle ; it 
was a sharp conflict. He pats under sail none 
of that squadron of adjectives, after which, a 
young egotist would have sent his first victory 
to the Naval Department. The autobiogra- 
phy exemplifies this from the 20th to the 23d 
page. 

Perry not only did not wish to engross the 
honor to himself, but he was anxious that all 
should share it with him. At the close of the 
battle, every voice was loud in praise of the 
first in command ; every tongue, but those of 
his own vessel, was questioning, or reluct- 
antly restrained from questioning, the conduct 
of the second in command. Those who had 
opportunities to write, were, in their letters, 
expressing their censure on the position held 
by the Niagara during the battle. 



52 LECTURE. 

The moment this was known to Perry, he 
sent Lieutenant Turner and Mr. Hambleton. 
one to the fleet, the other to the camp, en- 
treating them to stop. "Why," said he, 
" should a young- officer be ruined? Why 
should the public eye look on any part of the 
battle with disapprobation ? Honor enough 
for all has been won ; and I am desirous that 
all my companions in arms should share it 
with me." By this effort, every letter not 
dispatched already, was stopped. One only 
had been sent away, and could not be re- 
called. This act is and ever will be as hon- 
orable to Perry's generosity, as the victory 
was to his courage. 

On the 13th of September, he sent a second 
despatch to the Secretary of the Navy, " to 
give him some of the particulars of the battle." 
Here he saved Elliot, by a benevolent ambiguity, 
He says " at half past two, the wind springing up, 
Captain Elliot was ENABLED to bring his 
vessel, the Niagara, gallantly into close ac- 
tion." He was ENABLED, he could say ; 
he could not say he DID bring the Niagara 
into close action. For every man in the fleet 



LECTURE. 53 

knew that this was done by Perry himself. 
The public might infer, that Elliot, when he 
was enabled to bring, did in fact, bring* the Ni- 
agara gallantly into close action ; and Elliot 
was willing it should be so left in this ambigu- 
ity. For though he requested Perry to place 
this enabled, at an earlier hour, he never re- 
quested him to say that he did do what he 
was enabled to do ; that is, that he did come 
gallantly into close action. The time when 
he was so enabled, was referred to one of his 
civn Lieutenants, Edwards, and to Lieutenant 
Tumor ; but they agreed, that one half past 
two, as the Commodore had stated it, was the 
correct time. This was the moment when Perry 
left th« Lawrence to board the Niagara ; and 
this establishes the fact, that this Commodore 
Elliot; who now claims the honor of the vic- 
tory, had not, at one half after two o'clock, in 
the r Tnoon, been in close action. 

Some other admitted facts, place this ques- 
tion : further beyond doubt, ft is admitted 
by a it Commodore Perry left the Law- 

renc f past two o'clock, P. M. ; that he 

hoist the signal, on board the Niagara, for 



54 LECTURE. 

close action, to the gun boats astern of her, 
at 45, as' he says, and as Yarnall says, at 48 
minutes after two. He could not have been 
less than ten minutes passing from the Law- 
rence to the Niagara, or more than three in 
hoisting the signal. How far could eight men 
send that light barge over the water in ten 
minutes ? Some oarsmen tell me two ; some 
one and a half, but none less than one mile. 
So far from the Lawrence, and a little farther, 
half musket shot, from the enemy, was the 
Niagara when Perry reached her deck. He 
had left the Lawrence on her larboard or left 
hand gangway, when she was directly abeam 
of the Detroit ; and the moment that the Law- 
rence dropped astern, as she did immediately 
on his leaving her, and struck shortlv after ; 
the enemy saw him in his boat, and turned 
their fire from the ship to him. 

It is admitted that he rowed round under 
the stern of the Niagara and came up on the 
windward, then the larboard, or left hand 
gangway. The wind was south-east. Had 
the Niagara been coming down, the wind 
would have been on her right hand, or star™ 



LECTURE. 55 

board side ; the wind, as it is proved by Elliot 
himself, was on the larboard or left hand side. 

If then the Niagara was, as it is admitted, 
abeam of the Detroit and Queen Charlotte, 
though she was enabled to, yet she had not 
begun to come gallantly into close action. 

Another admitted fact will tell where El- 
liot was when the Detroit and Queen Char- 
lotte surrendered. Wherever the Niagara was, 
when Perry reached her ; the Somers, the 
Tigress and the Porcupine were in succession 
and in a line a long distance astern of her. 
This is proved by Elliot's own officers. Elliot, 
to bring them up, left the Niagara and rowed 
down the whole length of the line, or until 
he could hail the last boat ; and rowed back 
and boarded the Somers ; and so brought the 
gun boats down to engage in the action. 
Whatever distance these vessels, all dull sail- 
ers, were astern of the Niagara, Elliot had to 
row twice over that distance, before he could 
get back to the point where he left Perry in 
the Niagara ; then in two or three minutes, 
starting under full sail, to run down over the 



56 LECTURE. 

space which he had rowed up in fifteen min- 
utes.* 

Let these facts tell their own story ; and 
they will give the " whereabouts" of Captain 
Elliot, when the action terminated. This was 
in fifteen minutes, as Elliot proves, and in 
twenty, as Yarnall states, after Perry board- 
ed the Niagara. 

The living can protect their own charac- 
ters. Those who are dead, and who fell in 
the national service, have left their fame, per- 
haps the only inheritance of their children, to 
the safe keeping of their country ; and wo be- 
tide a people, when they permit the sanctuary 
of human glory, frail and perishable as it is, 
to be profaned and plundered. 

It was sacrilege among the ancients, and 
deemed abhorent to gods and men, to destroy, 
or remove a stick or a stone, from a trophy 
erected, by a conqueror, on a battle field, or 
by the shore where a naval victory had been 
achieved. 

*See Note B. 



LECTURE. -37 

Let the people of Rhode-Island protect with 
a pious diligence, the tombs and the glory of 
their buried patriots and heroes ; and alike 
abhor those who would tarnish the one, or 
demolish the other. 



5* 



NOTES. 



NOTE A. 

Although every effort was made for the relief of the 
wounded, yet there was much unavoidable dalay in 
giving them needful attention ; for Dr. Parsons, now 
one of our most distinguished medical gentlemen, then 
surgeon of the Lawrence, was the only surgeon able 
to do duty in the American squadron. It was not, 
therefore, until forty-eight hours after the battle, that he 
could attend to the wounded on board the Niagara. 
Of them, two only told him, that they were wounded 
before Perry boarded that vessel. He was preserved 
in that service, and for the completion of it, by one of 
the wonderful events of that day. While he was stoop- 
ing in the cock-pit, diligently dressing the wounded, 
a shot, hulling the ship through and through, passed 
just above his head. Had he been standing up, nothing 
could have saved him ; and the wounded in the fleet 



60 CONDITION AND POSITION 

would have been left without relief, and the country 
sustained a loss of one of her most able and distin- 
guished men in the healing profession. 



NOTE B. 

The individuals, and those too in command and so 
most exposed, are, at times, wonderfully preserved in 
the midst of slaughter ; yet do the number of dead 
and wounded, give fearful and solemn demonstration 
of the toil, peril, and exertions of those who led. 
cheered and urged them on in the battle. 

On board the Somers, the gun boat which Elliot 
was bringing down, two men only were wounded, 
whether before or after his command, it is unknown ; 
none were killed, on board the Niagara, when he com- 
manded ; and it is proved by the surgeon who dressed 
them, that two only, declared themselves to have been 
wounded during that time. 

The condition of that vessel and her crew, when 
Elliot left her, as I have stated it, was communicated 
to me by a gentleman, who received it from Commo- 
dore Perry's own mouth. He related the fact, that 
he found the ship perfectly fresh and not a man killed 
on board, as a matter of gratulation ; and one that 
gave him promise of a certain and speedy victory. 



OF THE NIAGARA. Gl 

Elliot produced no evidence before his court of inquiry, 
sufficient to induce a belief that Perry was mistaken 
in this statement. Lieutenant Webster, when called 
up a second time, and asked by Elliot "what damage 
the Niagara sustained during the action, not while he 
commanded ; mentioned sundry wounds in spars and 
rigging : and concludes by savin '7 two men were 
killed and several wounded in his division before 

at below. 

If the answer be as extensive as the question, and 
cover the whole action, it perfectly corroborates, but 
does net contradict the statement of Commodore Perry. 

The letter of Mr. Barton, nominal surgeon of the 
Niagara, written at Winchester, in Virginia, on* the 
. .! of April, 1821, to Commodore Elliot, and sworn 
to on the 24;' -jf that month, before some justice of 
the peace in Frederick county, Virginia, can hardly 
be regarded as evidence. 

This man was. on the day of the battle, and for many 
daj's after, so sick, that the wounded men on board 
the Niagara were not dressed by him ; nor, until the 
third day, when Dr. Parsons, acting as sole surgeon, 
took care of those brave fellows, who had been shot to 
pieces in the Niagara, after Perry took the command. 
What could Barton, sick as he was, and stationed 
below, know of the battle ? Asa specimen of his 
hearsay stories, take his declaration, in that letter ; 



Q2 CONDITION AND POSITION 

that five were killed outright, on board the Niagara. 
If he knew this fact, how did it happen, that Captain 
Elliot returned to Commodore Perry, the names of 
but two, Peter Morel, seaman, and Isaac Hardy, ordi- 
nary seaman ? These two only were killed on board 
that vessel ; and it may be uncertain, whether before 
or after Elliot left the ship. That two only were 
wounded before Perry took command is placed beyond 
a doubt by the testimony of Dr. Parsons. 

All that Barton states, he had heard from men on 
board with Elliot ; and like himself, anxious to ex- 
cuse themselves and their commander, and to stand 
well with the public. 

Admit all they claim, and two men only, fell where 
Elliot fought ; while on board the Lawrence, where 
Perry was engaged, twenty-two were killed and six- 
ty-one wounded. On board the Niagara, when un- 
der Perry's command, it is fully believed two were 
killed, and unquestionably twenty-two were wounded. 
No ships can be in close action for two hours and a 
half, and remain so sound as to be perfectly managea- 
ble in spars, rigging, sails, steerage, and battery ; and 
perfectly fit to run down and encounter the enemy at 
any chosen distance. 

When Perry left the Lawrence, she was utterly un- 
manageable, and could not move a sail, or fire a gun. 
The Detroit, which had been engaged with her and 



OF THE NIAGARA. 63 

the Caledonia, was, as Commodore Barclay says, " a 
perfect wreck, and the Queen Charlotte in a condition 
but little better." 

What was the condition of the Niagara when Elliot 
left her? Let the service which she immediately per- 
formed under the command of Perry, give the answer. 
She was so perfectly fresh, so entirely unhurt in steer- 
age, spars, rigging, sails, and battery, that without 
stopping a moment to repair, he instantly, at 45, or at 
most, 48 minutes after 2 o'clock, made signal for close 
action to the vessels astern ; and packing on all sail 
bore down and broke through the enemy's line. 

This being the condition of the Niagara when Elliot 
left her, why should we call witnesses to prove that she 
had been, during the battle, out of the reach of the ene- 
my's fire ? For if every man on board were to swear 
that she had been yard arm and yard arm with the 
Queen Charlotte, for two hours and a half, not a man. 
woman, or child on earth, would believe one word of 
the story. 

No ; the Niagara was perfectly fresh, and hanging 
in the wind, at a safe distance, when Perry boarded 
her, at 45 minutes after 2 o'clock. With such a ves- 
sel, with none killed and but two wounded, he was able 
to make sail, bear gallantly down, break through the 
enemy's line, and in fifteen minutes after he came on 
board, as Elliot's witnesses testify, or in twenty, or 



64 CONDITION AND POSITION 

twenty-five, as Yarnall slates, to terminate the actio:, 
by a signal and glorious victory. 



NOTE C. 

Lieutenant Webster called and examined under oai 
by Commodore Elliot, testifies, that when he went be- 
low, the gun boats were a long way astern of the Ni- 
! ra. No evidence is brought to prove, and there is 
no :• ison to believe, that they were nearer when El- 
liot left the Nia ra, after Vqyvj came on board. 

Indeed, if these vessels had been near, or the ner 
est within hailing disti and the ■$ no further 

off in succession down the line* the call to close up, 
would have been sent by sound of trumpet. The fact 
of Elliot's going after thorn, proves that they could not 
be expedited, in their approach, by signal or trumpet. 

They wen astern of the Niagara, and in the same 
line nrithher; so that Elliot, when . I rowed to 

the fir ost distant, and then back to th mers, was no 
nearer the enemy the Niagara was, when he I 

her. 

I Elhot in . ■ ;•■ . ?er this 

1 T it v . •■■ b it o i 5 far as the Lawrence 

w from the 1 ' garo, when Perry i d ; .' at v 
sol " l iust have been ' those two 

io ts. Where was Perry, in th ; Nil gara, dur- 

ing that time? Lot it be told by Mi Is] • am Mt I 



OF THE SOMERS. 65 

gomery, one of Elliot's own witnesses. He says, " the 
Detroit struck in fifteen minutes after Perry came on 
board the Niagara ; and the Queen Charlotte a few 
minutes after." 

If this be correct, Elliot had that instant reached 
the Somers. He proves, that when he reached that 
vessel, both her long 32's were shotted with balls of 
that weight. These he ordered drawn, and the guns 
shotted with grape and canister. Was this done to 
save the 32 lb. balls, as the 24 lb. carronade balls had 
been saved, because they were too distant to reach the 
enemy ? Or, was it the fact, that he then saw the 
colors of these two ships were down ; and that while 
he was pressing up, with sweeps and sails, into the 
thickest of the fight, after it icas all over, it was well to 
have the rest of his men busy in unloading and loading 
the guns ? ' 

Had the Somers been within point blank shot when 
he boarded her, the quickest wa}^ to have cleared his 
guns, for a load of grape and canister, would have 
been to place the 32 lb. shot, which then incumbered 
them, between wind and water in the enemy's broad- 
side. Two such balls, directed by a skilful eye over 
that smooth water, might have finished the conflict, if 
I the conflict had not alreadv been finished. 

In a late publication, purporting to be a Naval His- 

tory, it is stated that the boat service performed bv 
6 



66 elliot's boat service. 

Elliot in the battle, was as perilous as that performed 
by Perry. Is this correct ? The Lawrence was with- 
in half musket shot of the enemy when Perry left her, 
and the Niagara was out of carronade shot when he 
reached her. The whole fire of the enemy was poured 
in upon him during his whole passage from one to the 
other vessel. 

Elliot, when he left the Niagara to bring up the ves- 
sels astern, was out of sight of the Detroit and Queen 
Charlotte ; and from that time until he returned to the 
Somers and boarded her, was out of reach of all their 
guns, and does not appear to have been noticed by 
them. The writer, who could compare these two ser- 
vices together, and pronounce them equally perilous, 
must have a strange obliquity of purpose, or of under- 
standing. 



NOTE D. 

It is in proof and is admitted to be true, that Com- 
modore Perry rowed round the stern of the Niagara 
and came upon the larboard side. It is then true that 
this vessel was not bearing down on the enemy, for had 
that been the case, the boat's crew being equally ex- 
posed to the enemy's shot on either side of the vessel, 
she would have been boarded, on the starboard, that 
being the side first reached by the boat. 

It is also admitted that the Commodore boarded on 



POSITION OF THE NIAGARA. 67 

the windward side of the Niagara ; the wind must then 
have been on the larboard side, for on that side he 
boarded. The wind was southeast, and this vessel 
must have been heading to the westward or the wind 
could not have been on her larboard quarter. She 
was abeam of the Detroit, and had she been running 
down on that ship her course must have been north, 
and the wind, at southeast, would have been on her 
starboard quarter. It cannot, then, be true that she 
had begun to run down to the enemy's line when 
Commodore Perry boarded her. It is admitted that 
the Somers, Tigress and Porcupine, were astern of the 
Niagara when boarded by the Commodore ; but it is 
also admitted that these vessels were all heading to the 
westward with the southeast wind on their larboard 
quarters. The Niagara must therefore have been 
heading the same course ; or the other vessels could 
not have been astern of her ; for had she at that time 
been running down on the enemy they would have 
been on her beam as they were a few minutes after, 
when Perry packed on all sail and put up his helm to 
rush down and break through the enemy's line. 

At the court of inquiry, requested by Captain Elliot, 
most of his officers, called by him as witnesses, testify 
that the Niagara was in close action during the whole 
battle. Nevertheless, Captain Elliot asks of several 
of them this question, " When Captain Perry boarded the 



68 POSITION OF THE NIAGARA. 

Niagara, was not my helm put up and the vessel bear- 
ing down on the enemy ?" This question contradicts 
all these witnesses, and admits that when Captain Perry 
hoarded the Niagara, at 45 minutes past two o'clock 
she was not in close action ; and all the witnesses who 
say " yes" to this question contradict what they had 
said before, viz., that the Niagara was in close action 
when boarded by the Commodore, while all the forego- 
ing admitted facts, viz. the southeast wind on the larboard 
quarter, the other vessels astern, the rowing round 
the stern and boarding of the Commodore on the lar- 
board side of the Niagara, prove beyond question, that 
the helm was not put up and that she had not then 
begun to run down on the enemy, when boarded by 
Captain Perry. 



APPENDIX. 



DIAGRAM, NO. 1. 




DIAGRAMS. 71 



EXPLANATION OF DIAGRAM, NO. 1. 

This Diagram represents the position of the two 
fleets at the commencement of the action. The arrow 
indicates the course of the wind, which was from the 
southeast. The fleets were headed westward. 

AMERICAN SQUADRON. 

1. The schooner Scorpion, Sailing Master Champlin, 

of two guns, 32 pounders. 

2. The schr.Ariel, Lieut.Packett, 4 guns,18's and 24's. 
S, The Lawrence, Captain Perry, with twenty guns, 

two Ions; 12s and eighteen 24s. 

4. The Caledonia, Lieutenant Turner, with three guns, 

24 and 32 pounders. 

5. The Niagara, Captain Elliott, with the same arma- 

ment as the Lawrence. 

6. The schooner Somers, Sailing-Master Almy, with 

two 32 pounders. 

7. The schooner Porcupine, Midshipman Smith, with 

one 32 pounder. 

8. The Tigress, Lieut. Conklin, with one 32 pound gun. 

9. The sloop Trippe, Lieutenant Stevens, with one 

32 pound gun. 

BRITISH SQUADRON. 

a. Sloop Little Belt, of three guns. 

b. The ship Detroit, with nineteen guns. 

c. The brig Hunter, with ten guns. 

d. The ship Queen Charlotte, with seventeen guns. 

e. The schooner Lady Prevost, with thirteen guns. 

f. The schr. Chippewa, with one gun and two swivels. 



72 DIAGRAMS, 



EXPLANATION OF DIAGRAM, NO. 2. 

This Diagram represents the position of each ship 
at the moment when Perry left the Lawrence, in his 
boat, for the Niagara. 

1 and 2, are the Scorpion of two guns, and Ariel of 
four guns, contending with the Little Belt of three 
guns and the Hunter of ten guns. The Hunter, 
early in the action, had left her position in the 
line, between the Detroit and Queen Charlotte, and 
pressed forward to the support of the Little Belt. 

3. The position of the Lawrence at the moment when 

Perry left her, in her disabled state, for the Niag- 
ara. The former lay an unmanageable wreck, 
and as the fleet moved slowly forward, during 
the action under easy sail, she dropped to wind- 
ward, and at the close of the engagement, was 
in the position in which she is represented in Dia- 
gram No. 3. 

4. The Caledonia of four guns, which had pressed for- 

ward to the aid of the Lawrence, in her unequal 
contest with the Detroit and Queen Charlotte. 

5. The Niagara at the moment when Perry left the 

Lawrence to board her. The dotted line from 6 
to 5, will show the course of her steerage from 

the time she left her place in the line, till the com- 
mand of her was assumed by Perry. The dotted 
line from her bow, through the line of the British 
fleet, will show her course after Elliot left her. 

6. The Somers, of which Captain Elliot took the com- 



DIAGRAM, NO. 2. 



firf e 



e* 




i \ 
i \ 



i 



i 



$ 



CO 





ti 



■V 



/ 
/ 

I / 
i4 




<o 








« 



DIAGRAMS. 75 

mand toward the close of the action, after leaving 
the Niagara and rowing down to the Trippe. 

7, 8 and 9. The Porcupine, Tigress and Trippe. 

The dotted line from 5 to 9 and from 9 to 6, repre- 
sents the route of Captain Elliot in his boat, after 
he left the Niagara to go down the line and 
bring up the small vessels to the windward. 
He passed down the line to the Trippe, thence 
along the line of schooners to the Somers, of which 
he took the command and brought her into action 
at near the close of the battle. 

The dotted line from 3 to 5, exhibits the direction of 
Captain Perry's boat in passing from the Law- 
rence to the Niagara. As the Lawrence fell to 
the rear immediately after he left her, his boat 
was exposed to the full broadside of the enemy. 

The other dotted line will exhibit the course of the Ni- 
agara while under the command of Elliot, and af- 
terwards under that of Perry, as explained above. 

BRITISH FLEET. 

a. The Little Belt. 

b. The Detroit. 

c. The Hunter, which had left her place in line, astern 

of the Detroit, and took station in advance of her. 

d. The Queen Charlotte, which had passed forward 

and united her force with the Detroit, for the de- 
struction of the Lawrence, after she discovered 
the Niagara had avoided an encounter with her. 

c. The Lady Prevost, which had been injured in her 
rudder and fallen out of the line. 

f. The Chippewa. 



76 DIAGRAMS. 

EXPLANATION OF DIAGRAM, NO. 3. 

This Diagram represents the position of the vessels 
of both fleets at near the close of the action, while 
Perry, in the Niagara, was pressing through the ene- 
my's line, pouring one broadside into the Hunter, on 
his larboard side, and the other into the Detroit and 
Queen Charlotte, from the starboard guns. 

AMERICAN FLEET. 

1 and 2. The Scorpion and Ariel, in the positions 
which they had maintained throughout the action. 

3. The Lawrence which had dropped to the windward, 

after Perry left her. 

4. The Caledonia which had pressed forward and 

taken the place of the Lawrence, after the latter 
had fallen out of the battle. 

5. The Niagara, under the command of Perry, bearing 

down through the enemy's line, and in this posi- 
tion, with all her guns double shotted, she raked 
the Detroit, Queen Charlotte and Lady Prevost 
with her starboard guns, and brought down the 
flags of the two ships ; and with her larboard guns 
silenced the Hunter. She then rounded to, and 
silenced the Lady Prevost, and thu3 terminated 
the conflict. 

0. The Somers, under the command of Elliot, press- 
ing up to close quarters, at near the termination 
of the action. 

7 and 8. The Porcupine and Tigress, which were un- 
able to get into action. 



DIAGRAMS. 



77 



DIAGRAM, NO. 3. 




DIAGRAMS. 79 

9. The Trippe, which had gallantly pushed forward 
with her single 32 pounder, to the support of the 
Caledonia, after the latter had taken the place of 
the Lawrence. 

The dotted line indicates the course of the Niagara, 
under the command of Perry. The wind re- 
mained in the same quarter as at the cemmemee- 
ment of the action. 

BRITISH FLEET. 

a. The Little Belt, which, after the Hunter had struck, 

attempted to escape, but was pursued and taken 
by the Scorpion, Lieutenant Champhn. 

b. The Detroit attempting to wear, to avoid the Nia- 

gara's raking broadside, and by that movement 
became entangled with the Queen Charlotte. 

c. The Hunter, which surrendered after receiving the 

raking fire of the Niagara, as she passed her. 

d. The Queen Charlotte afoul of the Detroit. In this 

situation both ships surrendered. 
f. The Chippewa, which after the surrender of the oth- 
er vessels, crowded all sail and fled, but was pur- 
sued and captured. 



80 perry's official account 



AMERICAN OFFICIAL ACCOUNT. 

Copy of a letter from Commodore Perry to the Sec- 
retary of the Navy. 

United States schooner Ariel, Put-in-Bay, } 
13th September, 1313. 5 

Sir — In my last I informed you, that we had captured 
the enemy's fleet on this lake. I have now the honor 
to give you the most important particulars of the ac- 
tion. On the morning of the 10th inst. at sunrise, they 
were discovered from Put-in-Bay, where I lay at anchor 
with the squadron under my command. We got under 
way, the wind light at S. W. and stood for them. At 
10 A. M. the wind hauled to S. E. and brought us to 
windward ; formed the line and brought up. At 15 
minutes before 12, the enemy commenced firing ; at 
5 minntes before 12, the action commenced on our 
part. Finding their fire very destructive, owing to 
their long guns, and its being mostly directed to the 
Lawrence, I made sail, and directed the other vessels 
to follow, for the purpose of closing with the enemy. 
Every brace and bow line being shot away, she be- 
' came unmanageable, notwithstanding the great exer- 
tions of the Sailing Master. In this situation she sus- 
tained the action upwards of two hours, within canister 
shot distance, until every gun was rendered useless, 
and a greater part of the crew either killed or wounded. 
Finding she could no longer annoy the enemy, I left 
her in charge of Lt. Yarnall, who, I was convinced, 
from the bravery already displayed by him, would do 



ferry's official account. 81 

what would comport wit!} the honor of the flag. At 
half past 2, the wind springing up, Captain Elliot was 
enabled to bring his vessel, the Niagara, gallantly into 
close action ; I immediately went on board of her, 
when he anticipated my wish by volunteering to bring 
the schooners, which had been kept astern by the light- 
ness of the wind, into close action. It was with un- 
speakable pain that I saw, soon after I got on board 
the Niagara, the flag of the Lawrence come down, al- 
though I was perfectly sensible that she had been de- 
fended to the last, and that to have continued to make 
a show of resistance would have been a wanton sacri- 
fice of the remains of her brave crew. But the enemy 
was not able to take possession of her, and circum- 
stances soon permitted her flag again to be hoisted. 
At 45 minutes past two, the signal was made for " close 
action." The Niagara being very little injured, I de- 
termined to pass through the enemy's line, bore up and 
passed ahead of their two ships and a brig, giving a 
raking fire to them from the starboard guns, and to a 
large schooner and sloop, from the larboard side, at half 
pistol shot distance. The smaller vessels at this time 
having got within grape and canister distance, under 
the direction of Captain Elliot, and keeping up a well 
directed fire, the two ships, a brig, and a schooner, sur- 
rendered, a schooner and sloop making a vain attempt 
to escape. 

Those officers and men who were immediately under 
my observation evinced the greatest gallantry, and I 
have no doubt that all others conducted themselves as 
became American officers and seamen. Lieutenant 



82 perry's official account. 

Yarnall, first of the Lawrence, although several times 
wounded, refused to quit the deck. Midshipman For- 
rest, (doing duty as Lieutenant,) and Sailing-Master 
Taylor, were of great assistance to me. I have great 
pain in stating to you the death of Lieutenant Brooks, 
of the marines, and Midshipman Laub, both of the 
Lawrence, and Midshipman John Clark, of the Scor- 
pion ; they were valuable officers. Mr. Hambleton, 
Purser, who volunteered his services on deck, was se- 
verely wounded late in the action. Midshipman Clax- 
ton and Swartwout, of the Lawrence, were severely 
wounded. On board the Niagara, Lieutenants Smith 
and Edwards, and Midshipman Webster, (doing duty 
as Sailing-Master,) behaved in a very handsome man- 
ner. Captain Brevoort, of the army, who acted as a 
volunteer in the capacity of a marine officer on board 
that vessel, is an excellent and brave officer, and with 
his musketry, did great execution. Lieutenant Turner, 
commanding the Caledonia, brought that vessel into 
action in the most able manner, and is an officer, that 
in all situations may be relied upon. The Ariel, Lieu- 
tenant Packett, and Scorpion, Sailing-Master Champlin, 
were enabled to get early into the action, and were of 
great service. Captain Elliot speaks in the highest 
terms of Mr. Magrath, Purser, who had been de- 
spatched in a boat on service, previous to my getting 
on board the Niagara; and, being a seaman, since 
the action has rendered essential service in taking 
charge of one of the prizes. Of Captain Elliot, already 
so well known to the government, it would be almost 
superfluous to speak. In this action he evinced his 



LOG-BOOK OF THE LAWRENCE. 83 

characteristic bravery and judgment, and since the 
close of the action, has given me the most able and 
essential assistance. 

I have the honor to enclose you a return of the 
killed and wounded, together with a statement of the 
relative force of the squadrons. The Captain and 
first Lieutenant of the Queen Charlotte, and first 
Lieutenant of the Detroit, were killed. Captain Bar- 
clay, senior officer, and the commander of the Lady 
Prevost, severely wounded. Their loss in killed and 
wounded, I have not yet been able to ascertain ; it 
must, however, have been very great. 

Very respectfully, I have the honor to be, 
Sir, your obedient servant, 

O. H. PERRY. 
The Hon. Wm. Jones, 

Secretary of the Navy. 



EXTRACT FROM THE LOG-BOOK OF THE LAWRENCE. 

The following document, which has not before been 
presented to the public, is an important piece of testi- 
mony in the proof that the Niagara was kept out of the 
action till boarded by Perry. It is an attested copy of 
the log-book of the Lawrence, for the 10th of Septem- 
ber, 1813. The record was made within twenty-four 
hours after the action — and before the unwarranted 
pretensions of Elliot were dreamed of— by the Sailing 
Master, Taylor, whose official duty it was to keep a 
register of the important events of the day, for preser- 
vation. The Ioet contained only what were well known 



84 LOG-BOOK OF THE LAWRENCE. 

and admitted facts at the time on board the ship ; it 
was the public record of the ship, open to the view of 
all, and undisputed by any one. 

The log-book disappeared soon after Perry left the 
fleet and the command of it was assumed by Ellfot, 
and has not since been recovered. The following 
transcript of it was made by an officer of the Lawrence 
into his own private diary, on the day after the battle, 
and it is from that source that we have derived it. 

" Put-in-Bay, at 5 o'clock, A. M. discovered the 
enemy's squadron bearing N. W., wind S. W. ; at 
7 could see all the vessels, two ships, two brigs, one* 
schooner and one sloop. At 10, called all hands to 
quarters. At a quarter before meridian the enemy 
commenced the action at one mile distant. In half an 
hour we came within musket shot of the enemy's new 
ship Detroit. At this time they opened a most destruc- 
tive fire on the Lawrence from the whole squadron. At 
half past one, so entirely disabled we could work the 
brig no longer. At two P. M. most of the guns were 
dismounted, breechings gone, and carriages knocked 
to pieces. Capt. Perry hauled down the fighting flag, 
which bore this motto, " Do n't give up the ship*" and re- 
paired on board of the Niagara, and then raised it again. 
In ten minutes after, we struck to the enemy. Capt. 
Perry made all sail with the Niagara, which hitherto 
had kept out of the action, and in fifteen minutes passed 
in among the British squadron, having the Detroit, 
Queen Charlotte and Lady Prevost on the starboard 



*One of the brigs was an hermaphrodite, and sometimes 
was called a schooner. 



BRITISH OFFICIAL ACCOUNT. 85 

side, and the Hunter on the larboard side, and silenced 
them all ; and ten minutes before three, they hauled 
down their colors. Two small vessels attempted to 
escape but being overhauled, struck a few minutes 
after three." Then follows a list of the killed and 
wounded on board the Lawrence. 



BRITISH OFFICIAL ACCOUNT. 

Letter of Captain Barclay. 

His Majesty's late ship Detroit, Put-in-Bay. 
Lake Eric, September 12th. 

Sir — The last letter I had the honor of writing to 
you, dated the 6th instant, informed you, that unless 
certain intimation was received of more seamen being 
on their way to Amherstburg, I should be obliged to 
rail with the squadron, deplorably manned as it was, 
to fight the enemy (who blockaded the port,) to ena- 
ble us to get supplies of provisions and stores of every 
description ; so perfectly destitute of provisions was 
the port, that there was not a day's flour in store, and 
the crews of the squadron under my command were 
on half allowance of many things, and when that was 
done, there was no more. Such were the motives 
which induced Major-General Proctor (whom by your 
instructions I was directed to consult, and whose wishes 
I was enjoined to execute, as far as related to the 
good of the country) to concur in the necessity of a 
battle being risked, under the many disadvantages 
which I labored, and it now remains for me, the most 
melancholy task, to relate to you the unfortunate issue 



86 BRITISH OFFICIAL ACCOUNT. 

of that battle, as well as the many untoward circum- 
stances that led to that event. No intelligence of 
seamen having arrived, I sailed on the '9th instant, 
fully expecting to meet the enemy next morning, as 
they had been seen among the islands ; nor was I 
mistaken. Soon after day light they were seen in 
motion in Put-in-Bav, the wind then at south-west and 
light, giving us the weather gage, 1 bore up with them, 
in hopes of bringing them to action among the islands, 
but that intention was soon frustrated, by the wind 
suddenly shifting to the south-east, which brought the 
enemy directly to windward. The line was formed 
according to a given plan, so that each ship might be 
supported against the superior force of the two brigs 
opposed to them. About ten, the enemy had cleared 
the islands and immediately bore up, under easy sail, 
in a line abreast, each brig being also siij ; orted by the 
small vessels. At a quarter before 12, 1 commenced 
the action by a few long guns ; about a quarter past, 
the American Commodore, also supported by two 
schooners, one carrying four long 12 pounders, the 
other a long 32 and 24 pounder, came close to action 
with the Detroit ; the other brig of the enemy, appa- 
rently destined to engage the Queen Charlotte, sup- 
ported in like manner by two schooners, kept so Jar 
to windward as to render the Queen Charlotte's 20 
pounder carronades useless, while she was, with the 
Lady Prevost, exposed to the heavy and destructive 
fire of the Caledonia, and four other schooners, armed 
with heavy and long guns, like those I have already 
described. Too soon, alas ! was I deprived of the 



BRITISH OFFICIAL ACCOUNT. 87 

services of the noble and intrepid Captain Finnis, who 
soon after the commencement of the action fell, and 
with him fell my greatest support ; soon after, Lieu- 
tenant Stokes, of the Queen Charlotte, was struck 
senseless by a splinter, which deprived the country of 
his services at this very critical period. As I per- 
ceived the Detroit had enough to contend with, without 
the prospect of a fresh brig, provincial Lieutenant Ir- 
vine, who then had charge of the Queen Charlotte, be- 
haved with great courage, but his experience was much 
too limited to supply the place of such an officer as 
Captain Finnis, hence she proved of far less assistance 
than I expected. 

The action continued with great fury until half past 
two, when I perceived my opponent drop astern, and 
a boat passing from him to the Niagara, (which vessel 
was at this time perfectly fresh,) the American Commo- 
dore seeing, that as yet the day was against him (his 
vessel having struck soon after he left her) and also 
the very defenceless state of the Detroit, which ship 
was now a perfect wreck, principally from the raking 
fire of the gun boats, and also that the Queen Charlotte 
was in such a situation, that I could receive very little 
assistance from her, and the Lady Prevost being at 
this time too far to leeward, from her rudder being in- 
jured, made a noble, and alas ! too successful an effort 
to regain it, for he bore up, and supported by his small 
vessels, passed within pistol shot, and took a raking 
position on our bow, nor could I prevent it, as the un- 
fortunate situation of the Queen Charlotte prevented 
us from wearing ; in attempting it we fell on board her; 



88 BRITISH OFFICIAL ACCOUNT. 

my gallant first Lieutenant, Garland, was now mortally 
wounded, and myself so severely that I was obliged to 
quit the deck. Manned as the squadron was, with not 
more than 50 British seamen, the rest a mixed crew 
of Canadians and soldiers, and who were totally unac- 
quainted with such, a service, rendered the loss of offi- 
cers more sensibly felt, and never in any action was 
the loss more severe, every officer commanding vessels, 
and their seconds, was either killed or wounded so se- 
verely, as to be unable to keep the deck. Lieutenant 
Buchan, in the Lady Prevost, behaved most nobly, and 
did every thing that a brave and experienced officer 
could do in a vessel armed with 12 pound carronades, 
against vessels carrying long guns. I regret to state 
that he was severely wounded. Lieutenant Bignal, of 
the Dover, commanding the Hunter, displayed the 
greatest intrepidity ; but his guns being small (two 
four and six pounders) he could be of much less service 
than he wished. Every officer in the Detroit behaved 
in the most exemplary manner. Lieutenant Inglis 
showed such calm intrepidity, that I was fully con- 
vinced that, on leaving the deck, I left the ship in ex- 
cellent hands ; and for an account of the battle after 
that, I refer you to his letter, which he wrote me for 
your information. — Mr. HofFmeinster, purser of the 
Detroit, nobly volunteered his services on the deck, 
and behaved in a manner that reflects the highest hon- 
or on him. I regret to acid that he is very severely 
wounded in the knee. Provincial Lieutenant Purvin, 
and the military officers, Lieutenants Garden, of the 
Royal Newfoundland Rangers, and O'Keefe of the 



BRITISH OFFICIAL ACCOUNT. 89 

41st regiment, behaved in a manner which excited my 
warmest admiration ; the few British seamen I had, 
behaved with their usual intrepidity, and as long as I 
was on deck, the troops behaved with a calmness and 
courage worthy of a more fortunate issue to their ex- 
ertions. 

The weathergage gave the enemy a prodigious ad- 
vantage, as it enabled them not only to choose their 
position, but their distance also, which they did in such 
a manner as to prevent the carronades of the Queen 
Charlotte and Lady Prevost, from having much effect ; 
while their long guns did great execution, particularly 
against the Queen Charlotte. Captain Perry has be- 
haved in a most humane and attentive manner, not onlv 
to myself and officers, but to all the wounded. I trust 
that, although unsuccessful, you will approve of the 
motives that induced me to sail under so many disad- 
vantages, and that it may be hereafter proved, that 
under such circumstances the honor of His Majesty's 
flag has not been tarnished. I enclose the list of killed 
and wounded. 

I have the honor to be, &c. 

(Signed) R. H. BARCLAY. 

Commander and late Senior Officer. 

His Majesty's late ship Detroit, September 10. 

Sir — I have the honor to transmit to you an account 
of the termination of the late unfortunate battle with 
the enemy's squadron. 

On coming on the quarter deck, after your being 
wounded, the enemy's second brig, at that time on our 
8 



90 ENGLISH COURT MARTIAL. 

weather beam, shortly "after took a position on our 
weather bow to rake us ; to prevent which, in attempt- 
in g to wear, to get our starboard broadside to bear 
upon her, a number of the guns on the larboard broad- 
side being at this time disabled, we fell on board the 
Queen Charlotte, at this time running up to leeward of 
us. In this situation the two ships remained for some 
time. As soon as we got clear of her, I ordered the 
Queen Charlotte to shoot ahead of us, if possible ; and 
then attempted to back our fore-topsail to get astern, 
but the ship lying completely unmanageable, every 
brace cut away, the mizen topmast and gaff down, all 
the other masts badly wounded, not a stay left forward, 
hull shattered very much, a number of the guns disa- 
bled, and the enemy's squadron raking both ships 
ahead and astern, none of our own in a situation to 
support us, I was under the painful necessity of answer- 
ing the enemy, to say we had struck, the Queen Char- 
lotte having previously done so. I have the honor, &c. 

(Signed) GEORGE INGLIS. 

To Captain Barclay, &c. 



The following extract from volume 8, page 29, of 
Niles' Register, was copied from a London paper, in 
1815. 

" NAVAL COURT MARTIAL." 

" A Court Martial was held at Portsmouth, on Fri- 
day, on board His Majesty's ship Gladiator, for the 
trial of Captain R. EL Barclay and his remaining of- 
fiers and men, for the loss of the squadron on Lake 



ENGLISH COURT MARTIAL. 91 

Erie, on the 10th of September, IS 13, in an action 
with the American flotilla." 

After detailing the bad equipment of the British ves- 
sels, and other unfavorable circumstances under which 
Capt. Barclay was compelled to sail, the Court say, that, 

" On the following morning he fell in with the ene- 
my, and having the weathergage, bore down to com- 
mence the action ; but, unfortunately, the wind veered 
directly round, and brought our squadron to leeward. 
The commencement, however, was propitious ; the 
American Commodore was obliged to leave his ship, 
which soon afterwards surrendered, and hoist his flag 
on another of his squadron, which had not been engaged,, 
and was making away, when unfortunately, the Queen 
Charlotte and Detroit, our two best ships, having had 
all their officers killed and wounded, fell on board of 
each other, and were unable to clear — at the same time 
the greater nti her of their guns were dismounted, and 
the Lady Prevost had fallen to leeward, having lost 
her rudder. The Americans, seeing this situation of 
our ships, renewed the action with the assistance of his 
gun boats, by which the whole of our squadron was 
obliged to surrender." 

Note. The allegation made in this report that Cap- 
tain Elliot was "making away" and not any thing con- 
tained in the official report of Commodore Perry, nor 
any charge made against him at home, induced Elliot 
to call for a Court of Inquiry. That court made the 
following report : 

" The Court of Inquiry convened at the request of 
Captain Jesse D. Elliot, having deliberately examined 



92 AMERICAN COURT OF INQUIRY. 

all the evidence produced before them, for the purpose 
of investigating his conduct in the glorious battle of 
Lake Erie, on the 10th of September, 1813, in which 
he bore so conspicuous a part, sincerely regret that 
there should have been any diversity of opinion re- 
specting the events of that day, and imperious duty 
compels the Court to promulgate testimony that ap- 
pears materially to vary in some of its important 
points. The Court, however, feel convinced that the 
attempts to wrest from Captain Elliot the laurels he 
gained in that splendid victory, as second in command 
under that gallant and highly meritorious officer, Cap- 
tain Perry, ought in no wise to lessen him in the 
opinion of his fellow citizens, as a brave and skilful 
officer, and that the charge made in the proceedings of 
the British Court Martial, by which Captain Barclay 
was tried, of his attempting to withdraw from the bat- 
tle, is malicious and unfounded in fact. On the con- 
trary it has been proved to the satisfaction of this 
Court, that the enemy's ship Queen Charlotte bore off 
from the fire of the Niagara, commanded by Captain 

Elliott." 

A. MURRAY, President. 
Henry Wheaton, Judge Advocate. 
(Approved.) B. W. CROWNINSHIELD. 

This opinion merely negatives the allegation of the 
British Court Martial, viz. : that Elliot was " making 
away" from the battle. 

Commodore Perry has been accused of inconsisten- 
cy in giving a favorable account of Elliot's conduct, in 
his report of the battle, and then preferring charges 



com. perry's letter. 93 

against him for gross misconduct during the engage- 
ment. To set this in a proper light, his letter to the 
Secretary of the\Navy accompanying those charges is 
here published, viz : 

com. perry's letter to the secretary of the navy. 

Sir : I have the honor to lay before you copies of 
a letter lately received by me from Captain Jesse D. 
Elliot of the Navy, and of certain certificates enclosed 
therein, with copies also of my letter in reply, and of 
the affidavits of Lieutenants Turner, Stevens and 
Champlin, and Dr. Parsons. 

The conduct of Captain Elliot, partially presented 
to view in these papers, and still more clearly marked 
by other acts of that officer within my knowledge, and 
fully susceptible of proof, imposes on me the duty of 
preferring against him the charges which accompany 
this letter ; and I now accordingly do prefer said 
charges against Captain Elliot, and request that a 
court martial may be ordered for his trial thereupon. 

The facts upon which some of these charges are 
founded (particularly those relating to the behavior 
of that officer during the engagement on Lake Erie,) 
having been long in my possession, you will expect 
me to account for my not having sooner made them 
known to the government, and for having mentioned 
favorably, in my official report of that action, an offi- 
cer whose conduct had been so reprehensible. 

At the moment of writing that report, I did in my 
own mind avoid coming to any conclusion to what 
cause the conduct of Captain Elliot was to be imputed; 



7 * 



94 com. perry's letter. 

nor was I then fully acquainted with all the circum- 
stances relating to it. Having previously to the en- 
gagement given all the orders which I thought neces- 
sary to enable every officer do his duty, and feeling 
confidence in them all, I was, after it commenced, 
necessarily too much engaged in the actual scene be- 
fore me to reflect deliberately upon the cause which 
could induce Captain Elliot to keep his vessel so dis- 
tant both from me and the enemy. And after the 
battle was won, I felt no disposition rigidly to examine 
into the conduct of any of the officers of the fleet ; and, 
strange as the behavior of Captain Elliot had been, 
yet I would not allow myself to come to a decided 
opinion, that an officer who had so handsomely con- 
ducted himself on a former occasion, (as I then in 
common with the public had been led to suppose Cap- 
tain Elliot had) could possibly be guilty of cowardice 
or treachery. The subsequent conduct also of Captain 
Elliott ; the readiness with which he undertook the 
most minute services ; the unfortunate situation in 
which he now stood, which he lamented to me, and his 
marked endeavors to conciliate protection — were all 
well calculated to have their effect. But still more 
than all, I was actuated by a strong desire that in the 
fleet I then had the honor to command, there should be 
nothing but harmony after the victory they had gained, 
and that nothing should transpire which would bring 
reproach upon any part of it, or convert into crimina- 
tion the praises to which they were entitled, and which 
I wished them all to share and enjoy. The difficul- 
ties produced in my mind by these considerations, were, 



com. perry's letter. 95 

<at the time, fully expressed to an officer of the fleet 
in whom I had great confidence. If I omitted to 
name Captain Elliot, or named him without credit, I 
might not only ruin that officer, but, at the same time, 
give occasion to animadversions which, at that period, 
I thought would be little to the honor or advantage of 
the service. If my official report of that transaction 
is reverted to, these embarrassments with respect to 
Captain Elliot, under which I labored in drawing it, 
will, I believe, be apparent. That report was very 
different from what had been expected by the officers 
of the fleet; but, having adopted the course which I 
thought most prudent to pursue with regard to Captain 
Elliot, I entreated them to acquiesce in it, and made 
every exertion in my power to prevent any further re- 
marks on his condnct— and even furnished him with a 
favorable letter or certificate for the same purpose, of 
which he has since made a very unjustifiable use. 

These, sir, are the reasons which induced me at the 
time not to bring on an inquiry into his conduct. The 
cause and propriety of my now doing so, will, I trust, 
require but few explanations. I would willingly, for 
my own sake as well as his, (after the course I had 
pursued for the purpose of shielding him,) have still 
remained silent ; but this, Captain Elliot will not al- 
low me to do. He has acted upon the idea, that by 
assailing my character he shall repair his own. 

After he was left in the command on Lake Erie, I 
was soon informed of the intrigues he was there prac- 
tising, some of which are detailed in these charges. 
These I should not have regarded as long as they were 



96 com. perry's letter. 

private ; but I then determined and declared to many 
o[ my friends in the navy, that should Captain Elliot 
ever give publicity to his misrepresentations, I would 
then demand an investigation of the whole of his con- 
duct. This necessity is now forced upon me. 

Believing my hands to be bound, and even braving 
me with the very certificate afforded to him in charity, 
this officer at last addresses directly to myself, and 
claims my acquiescence in the grossest misrepre- 
sentations — not only of his own conduct on Lake Erie, 
but of conduct and declarations which he imputes to 
me. 

Thus has Captain Elliot himself brought his own 
conduct on Lake Erie again into view, and, by in- 
volving with it imputations upon mine, has compelled 
me to call for this inquiry. Fie can make no com- 
plaint, therefore, of delay in bringing forward any of 
these charges. Those which regard his conduct on 
Lake Erie, and his justification, (if he has any,) are 
besides as perfectly susceptible of proof now as at air- 
earlier period. Whatever the character of that be- 
haviour was, it was witnessed by such numbers as to 
leave nothing in it equivocal or unexplained. Some of 
the officers who were with him may still be called 
upon, and although two or three others are deceased, 
yet so were they when Captain Elliot himself called 
for a Court of Inquiry. Certificates also were ob- 
tained from those officers by Captain Elliot while 
living, the originals of which are in the Department, 
and it may be seen by them that those officers, if 
present, would have no testimony to give which could 



com. perry's letter. 97 

at all militate with these charges. There are as 
many officers deceased from whose testimony Cap- 
tain Elliot would have much more to fear, than he 
would have to hope from that of the officers above 
alluded to. A Court of Inquiry consisting of three of- 
ficers was once called at the request of Captain Elliot, 
in consequence (if I recollect rightly) of some allusions 
to the conduct of the Niagara, supposed to be con- 
tained in the British Commodore Barclay's report ; 
and though that inquiry (of which no notice to attend 
as witnesses was given to any of the commanders of 
vessels on Lake Erie, (could only be a very limited 
one, and could involve no actual trial upon Captain 
Elliot's conduct, yet he undoubtedly had before that 
Court all such witnesses as could testify in his favor, 
and the record of that testimony (if any of those wit- 
nesses are deceased,) will avail him. Captain Elliot, 
therefore, can suffer nothing from the lapse of time, 
and it would indeed be a strong pretension in him to 
claim protection from inquiry into his conduct, at the 
same time that he is giving notoriety to his own re- 
presentations of it, and that too to the prejudice of 
others. 

I am, sir, fully sensible how troublesome the fre- 
quent examinations into the conduct of officers has been 
to the government, and how disagreeable they must 
have become. I am aware, also, that the public are 
justly dissatisfied with them, and that reproach has been 
brought upon the service by means of them. I have, 
therefore, avoided asking for this investigation as long 



98 com. perry's accusation. 

as I possibly could do so with any justice to the service, 
or to my own character. 

I have the honor to be, Sir, 

Your most obedient servant, 

O. H. PERRY. 

In consequence of the absence, upon the Mediterra- 
nean station, of a number of material witnesses, the 
Court of Inquiry asked for in this letter could not be 
convened till Perry sailed upon that cruise which ter- 
minated his life. 



The following is the second charge with the spcci- 
flcaiions, preferred by Perry against Elliot. 

" Conduct unbecoming an officer, and manifesting 
disregard of the honor of the American flag. 

" Specification. — Because the said Captain Elliot, 
about the 1st of October, 1813, on board the gun boat 
Scorpion, commanded by Sailing-Master Champlin, 
then on Lake St. Clair, in the presence of said Champ- 
lin, intemperately and unjustly abused the said Captain 
tain Perry, his said commanding officer on Lake Erie, 
and express^ declared that he had had it in his power 
to destroy the fleet, and the said Perry with it, and he 
only regretted that he had not done so ; and further 
there declared, that the officers and men of the Law- 
rence were not entitled to prize money, on account of 
the vessels of the enemy captured on Lake Erie, but 
that the officers and crews of the other vessels of the 
American fleet were entitled to prize money for the 



com. perry's accusation. 90 

recapture of the Lawrence. And because the said 
Captain Elliot did again, at Buffalo, in November and 
December, 1813, publicly express the same wish, that 
he had sacrificed the American fleet on Lake Erie, to- 
gether with the said Captain Perry, its commander. 

" Specification. — Because the said Captain Elliot, at 
Erie, on or about the 26th of October, 1813, declared 
in the presence of Dr. Wallace, of that place, that it 
would be a serious question between the two govern- 
ments (meaning the American and British,) whether 
Captain Perry was not to be considered as a prisoner 
of war." 

The fourth, fifth and sixth charges and specifications 
were as follows : 

" That the said Captain Elliot, on the 10th of Sep- 
tember, 1813, being then a Master Commander in the 
Navy of the United States, and commanding the United 
States brig Niagara, one of the American squadron on 
Lake Erie, did not use his utmost exertion to carry 
into execution the orders of his commanding officer to 
join in the battle on that day between the American 
and British fleets." 

" Specification. — Because the American squadron 
having sailed, in search of the enemy, a few days pre- 
vious, the following orders and instructions were issued 
by the commanding officer, viz. — 1st, An order di- 
recting in what manner the line of battle should be 
formed ; the several vessels to keep within half cable's 
length of each other, and enjoining it upon the com- 
manders to preserve their stations in the line, and, in 



100 com. perry's accusation. 

all cases to keep as near to the commanding officer's 
vessel, the Lawrence, as possible. 2d — An order of 
attack ; in which order the Lawrence was designated 
to attack the enemy's new ship, (afterwards ascer- 
tained to have been named the Detroit,) and the Niag- 
ara, commanded by the said Captain Elliot, designated 
to attack the enemy's ship " Queen Charlotte ;" which 
orders were then communicated to all the commanders, 
including the said Captain Elliot, who, for that pur- 
pose, and to receive further orders and instructions, 
were, by signal, called together by the said command- 
ing officer, and all the said commanders, including the 
said Captain Elliot, were then, by the said command- 
ing officer, expressly further instructed, that " if, in the 
expected engagement, they laid their vessels close along 
side of those of the enemy, they could not be out of 
their way." 3d — When coming into action, an order 
was passed, by trumpet, for the vessels astern to close 
up in the line ; and, after the enemy had commenced 
firing, the signal was made, by the said commanding 
officer, for the fleet to come into action, each vessel 
against her opponent, as before designated ; yet did he, 
the said Captain Elliot, notwithstanding said orders, 
and in violation thereof, keep his said brig, the Niaga- 
ra, nearly a mile's distance astern of the Lawrence, 
and a still greater distance from the whole of the ene- 
my's fleet, during more than two hours of the battle, 
although but a few moments before its commencement 
he was within hail of the Lawrence, and might with 
ease have followed that vessel into close action, instead 
of which he, the said Captain Elliot, failed to come into 



com. perry's accusation. 101 

close action and to engage the enemy's ship the Queen 
Charlotte, as he was bound to do by said order and by 
the example of the commanding officer's vessel, and 
did remain, during the whole period before mentioned, 
at such a distance from the enemy as to render all the 
guns of the Niagara useless, except two long ones, 
which, consequently, were the only guns fired from 
that vessel during all the said time, and by which, at 
so great a distance but little, if any, effect upon the 
enemy could be produced ; of which misconduct and 
breach of orders the said Captain Elliot was guilty, 
without any necessity, cause, or excuse, his said vessel 
being, in all respects, in size, force, equipment and 
crew, and sailing, fully equal to the Lawrence and the 
ship he was ordered to engage ; and, being also to the 
windward of the enemy, said vessel could not easily 
have been kept out of close action, unless the said 
Captain Elliot had, for that purpose, kept, as he did, 
her main topsail aback and her jib brailed up ; by do- 
ing which, and by keeping the wind, instead of bear- 
ing down upon the enemy, he, the said Captain Elliot, 
finally carried his said vessel on the outside of the 
Lawrence and Caledonia, placing those vessels be- 
tween him and the enemy, and was, when his said 
commanding officer went on board that vessel, keeping 
her on a course by the wind, which would, in a few 
minutes, have carried said vessel entirely out of the 
action, to prevent which, and in order to bring the said 
vessel into close action with the enemy, the said com- 
manding officer was under the necessity of heaving to 
9 



102 com. perry's accusation. 

and immediately wearing said vessel and altering her 
course at least eight points. 

Charge 5th.— That the said Capt. Elliot, on the 10th 
Sept. 1813, being then commander of the U. States brig 
Niagara, one of the American squadron on Lake Erie, 
through cowardice, negligence, or disaffection, did not., 
in the action on said lake on that day between the 
American and British fleets, do his utmost to take or 
destroy the vessel of the enemy which it was his duty 
to encounter. 

Charge 6th. — That the said Capt. Elliot, in said en- 
gagement on Lake Erie, on the said 10th of September,, 
through cowardice, negligence, or disaffection, did not 
do his utmost endeavor to afford relief to the United 
States brig Lawrence. 

Specification. — Same as to charges 4th and 5th, with 
the following addition : 

In consequence of which conduct of the said Captain 
Elliot, ithe enemy's said ship the Queen Charlotte, was 
enabled to unite her force with that of the Detroit 
against the Lawrence ; instead of preventing which, 
or affording any assistance to said brig Lawrence, the 
said Captain Elliot left that vessel, her officers and 
crew, (eighty-three of whom were killed or wounded.) 
a sacrifice to the enemy, although his, the said Captain 
Elliot's vessel, remained perfectly uninjured, with not 
more than one or two of his men (if any) wounded, 
while Captain Elliot continued on board of her. 

O. H. PERRY.' 1 

August 8, 1818. 



capt. turner's affidavit. 103 

The other charges preferred by Commodore Perry 
against Elliot, were, for unofficer-like and ungentle- 
manly conduct subsequent to the battle, in misrepre- 
senting the events of the action, and attempting to ex- 
alt his own services and detract from those of others — 
falsely claiming to have been in close action, and as- 
suming to himself the principal share of the victory — - 
attempting, by unmanly means, to procure from the 
officers of the fleet, contrary to their opinion, certifi- 
cates of his own good conduct, and endeavoring to ob- 
tain from British officers, prisoners under his charge, 
declarations favorable to himself — of unjust hostility 
towards those officers who had refused to give him 
•certificates — falsely declaring that Peny, in despair, 
had thrown overboard his fighting flag, which had been 
picked up by another officer — of asserting that Perry, 
when he came on board the Niagara, was in despair 
and ready to surrender the fleet, and that it was through 
-his firmness aiki perseverance the fight was renewed — - 
and having brought great discredit upon the service by 
publicly expressing his regret that he had not sacrificed 
the fleet, and Perry with it, as he had had the power to 
do in the action. 

Copy of Captain Daniel Turner's affidavit. 
"In the battle of the 10th September, 1813, on Lake 
Erie, between the American squadron commanded by 
Commodore Perry, and the British squadron under 
Commodore Barclay, the action begun when the two 
squadrons were about a mile apart, by a firing com- 
menced by the enemy ; the signal having been made 



104 capt. turner's affidavit. 

by Commodore Perry, for our vessels to engage as 
they came up, each against the enemy's vessels, as de- 
signaled in previous orders, which made the Queen 
Charlotte the antagonist of the Niagara, commanded by 
Captain Elliot. It was understood by the American 
officers before the fight, that it was Captain Perry's 
intention to bring the enemy to close action as soon as 
possible. The Lawrence accordingly closed with the 
Detroit very soon. The Queen Charlotte made sail 
for the purpose of assisting the Detroit. The Niagara 
might have relieved the Lawrence from the Queen 
Charlotte's fire, if she had made proper exertions to 
bring her to close action ; but by keeping her main- 
topsail aback, and her jib brailed up, she kept at too 
great a distance from the enemy to do him any mate- 
rial injury, and sustained scarcely any herself, until 
the Commodore took command of her, who, immedi- 
ately bore up and passed through the enemy's line, 
firing both his broadsides with such tremendous effect, 
as compelled him instantly to surrender. 

It was the general opinion of the American officers, 
and expressed with much indignation, that Captain El- 
liot did not do his duty in the battle, as a gallant and 
faithful officer ; inasmuch as he did not bring his ves- 
sel, as soon as he might have done, into close action, 
which circumstance only, made the result of the battle 
fur a short time doubtful. Soon after the victory, Cap- 
tain Elliot's conduct was spoken of, as well in General 
Harrison's army, as in the fleet, with great disappro- 
bation and censure. Captain Perry heard of it, and 
spoke to me of it one evening ; said that he was sorry 



capt. turner's affidavit. 105 

.reports were in circulation so ruinous to Captain Elli- 
ot's reputation — wished they might be silenced, and de- 
sired me to go on shore to the camp, and do all that I 
could, with propriety, to counteract them — I did so ac- 
cordingly the next morning. He said the American 
flag had gained much honor that day, and he wished 
all his companions in battle to share it with him. 
Several weeks after this, Captain Perry told me that 
Captain Elliot wished him to alter that part of his of- 
ficial report which stated that the Niagara did not, un- 
til a late period of the engagement, get into close ac- 
tion — and asked me whether I thought that part of his 
report incorrect, as it had been agreed to leave the 
question to be decided by two commissioned officers of 
the fleet, (Lieutenant Edwards, who was present, and 
myself being the officers selected,) I answered, I thought 
that part of his official report was entirely correct, to 
which Lieutenant Edwards assented. 

Some time after, Captain Perry left the lake, and 
when the squadron was under Elliot's command, he 
applied to me and repeatedly urged me to give him a 
certificate respecting his conduct in the battle. He 
said his only reason for wishing one, was to have it in 
his power to calm his wife's uneasiness, who had heard 
that his conduct had been questioned ; and declared to 
me, upon his honor, that he would make no other use 
of it than as a means of relieving her unhappiness. 
Thus delicately and unpleasantly situated, I wrote such 
a certificate as I thought I might, for such an occa- 
sion, venture to give Captain Elliot. 

DAN. TURNER." 
9* 



106 CAPT. STEVENS' AFFIDAVIT. 

Copy of the affidavit of Captain Thomas Holdup Ste- 
vens, commanding United States sloop Trippe, in the 
action of the 10th of September, 1813. 

" When the American squadron had approached the 
enemy within about a mile, and the enemy had com- 
menced firing, the signal was made by Commodore 
Perry, to " engage as you come up, every one against his 
opponent, in the line as before designated ;" agreeably 
to this signal, the situation of the Niagara should have 
been abreast of the Queen Charlotte, and within half a 
cable's length. The Laurence went gallantly into 
close action, and her example was followed by the 
Caledonia, Lieut. Turner ; but the Niagara continued 
to hug the wind, and remained in the position she had 
taken at the commencement of the action till a few mo- 
ments previous to Com. Perry's boarding her. There 
could not be any rational object in the Niagara's keep- 
ing at long shot with. the Queen Charlotte, as the 
amount and description of their force was equal, and 
being principally carronades, no effect could be made 
by them at the distance Captain Elliot kept his ship. 
From the number of light sails the Niagara had, and 
there being a leading wind, Captain Elliot might, at any 
period of the action, have closed with the enemy, and 
relieved the Lawrence from the dreadful and destruc- 
tive fire kept up upon her from the united forces of the 
Detroit and Queen Charlotte. 

- It was the general opinion of the officers and men of 
the squadron, that Captain Elliot did not do his duty in 
the action of the 10th of September ; and that had he 



CAPT. STEVENS 7 AFFIDAVIT. 107 

been impelled by a becoming bravery, he would have 
made greater exertions to have taken an active part 
in the fight. Great irritation was produced in the fleet 
in consequence of it, and this opinion continued to be 
freely expressed till it was made known that Com. 
Perry was desirous of protecting Captain Elliot from 
the effects of such reports. Every exertion was made 
by Com. Perry to screen Captain Elliot from the inju- 
rious impressions made by his conduct : but the volun- 
teers in the fleet did not pay the same regard to Com. 
Perry's wishes as was clone by the officers ; and many 
of them having witnessed the conduct of Capt. Elliot, 
gave full expression to their feelings and opinions re- 
specting him. 

It was a received opinion in the fleet, that previous 
to Com. Perry's going on board the Niagara, she had 
but one man wounded, and that her opponent, the 
Queen Charlotte, from the account of the British offi- 
cers, had suffered but very slightly previous to being 
engaged in close action with Com. Perry. 

When the action closed, Captain Elliot was on board 
the Somers, and the accounts from that vessel were 
very unfavorable to Captain Elliot's bravery, as it was 
reported he beat the Captain of the gun very severely 
with a speaking trumpet, for having laughed at his 
dodging a shot which passed over him from the en- 
emy. 

(Signed) THOS. HOLDUP STEVENS." 



108 capt. champlin's affidavit. 

Copy of the affidavit of Captain Stephen Champlin, 
commanding the United States schooner Scorpion, in 
the battle of the 10th of September, 1813. 
" In the action of the 10th of September, 1813, be- 
tween the American squadron, commanded by Com. 
Perry, and the British, under Com. Barclay, on Lake 
Erie, when we were within the distance of a mile from 
the enemy, who had commenced firing, the signal was 
made by Commodore Perry, " engage as you come tip, 
every one against his opponent, in the line before desig- 
nated" The situation of the Niagara should have 
been abreast of the Queen Charlotte, and of course as 
near as she could get, as previous to the action I had 
always understood from Commodore Perry that it was 
his intention to bring the enemy's fleet to close action 
in case of a conflict. The Lawrence went into close 
action in the most gallant style, followed by the Cale- 
donia, under the command of Lieutenant D. Turner, 
who kept her in her station, agreeably to signals. The 
Queen Charlotte made sail and closed up with the De- 
troit shortly after the action commenced, and directed 
her fire at the Lawrence. The Niagara still contin- 
ued to remain a long way astern, and firing at long 
shot ; a short time before Commodore Perry's going on 
board of her, she ranged ahead of the Lawrence and 
to windward of her, bringing the Commodore's ship be- 
tween her and the enemy, when she might have passed 
to leeward and relieved the Lawrence from their de- 
structive fire. The wind being at that time south-east 
and the American squadron steering large, (with the 
exception of the Lawrence, she being at that time en- 



CAPT. CHAMPLIN'S AFFIDAVIT. 109 

tirely disabled and lying like a log upon the water,) 
the Caledonia took and maintained her station in the 
line, which was just astern of the Commodore during 
the whole of the action. It was the opinion of the of- 
ficers and men of the squadron that Captain Elliot did 
not do his duty in the action on that day, and that had 
his conduct been that of a brave man, there is no pos- 
sible reason that can be given why his vessel should 
not have been brought into close action with the British 
squadron, before Commodore Perry went on board of 
her. 

Great indignation was expressed by the officers in 
general at the base conduct of Captain Elliot in neg- 
lecting to support the Lawrence as he ought to have 
done. But understanding that the Commodore desired 
to screen him, they forbore to make any remarks pub- 
licly upon his conduct. The volunteers in fleet, how- 
ever, not being actuated by the same motives which 
induced those under Commodore Perry's command to 
remain silent, expressed their feelings without any re- 
serve whatever. At the close of the action, Captain 
Elliot was on board of the Somers, and behaved (as 
was reported by the officers and crew of that vessel,) 
in a manner totally unbecoming an officer, by beating 
the captain of the gun severely with a speaking trum- 
pet, for his laughing while he, Captain El Hot, dodged a 
shot. 

On or about the 1st of October, 1813, while com- 
manding the United States schooner Scorpion, on Lake 
St. Clair, Captain Elliot came on board : in the course 
of conversation the battle of Lake Erie being intro- 



110 MR. breese's affidavit. 

duced, he observed, " that the officers and men of the 
Lawrence, including Com. Perry, were by no means 
entitled to prize money ; and still further, that the 
other officers and men of the squadron were even en- 
titled to prize money for her, she being a recaptured 
vessel." He also observed, that in the action he was 
so far from the enemy that he only fired his 12 pound- 
ers during two hours and a half; the reason he as- 
signed was, that he had no signal from the Commodore 
to change his situation ; complained much of Commo- 
dore Perry's injustice towards him, and said, " He only 
regretted that he had not sacrificed the fleet when it was 
in his power to have done so, on that account." He 
also expressed sentiments to that effect frequently after- 
wards at Buffalo, as I was informed by the citizens f 
and Midshipman Senatt, who was present when the 
observations were made. 

(Signed) STEPHEN CHAMPLIN." 



Copy of an affidavit of Thomas Breese, Esq. Purser 
U. S. N. ivho was stationed on the quarter-deck of 
the Laivrence daring the action of the 10th of Sep- 
tember, 1813. 

'.* On the 10th of September, 1813, the action on Lake 
Erie commenced by firing from the enemy's flag-ship, 
on the Lawrence, about the distance of a mile. The 
signal was previously made by Commodore Perry, for 
our vessels to engage as they came up, each against his 
opponent in the British line, designated by the order of 



MR. breese's affidavit. Ill 

battle, which made the ship Queen Charlotte the an- 
tagonist of the Niagara, commanded by Captain Elliot ; 
it being understood by the commanders of the Ameri- 
can vessels, that it was the intention of Commodore 
Perry to bring the enemy to close action as soon as 
possible. The Lawrence immediately closed with the 
Detroit, and her example was gallantly followed by 
the Caledonia, Lieutenant Turner, the Scorpion, and 
Ariel. Shortly after the commencement of the battle, 
the enemy's ship, Queen Charlotte, made sail and passed 
ahead of the opponent of the Caledonia, and opened a 
destructive fire on the Lawrence, in conjunction with 
the Detroit ; but the Niagara, from some mysterious 
cause, remained in the position she held at the com- 
mencement of the action. The conduct of Captain 
Elliot, in thus keeping his vessel out of close action, 
was evidedtly the cause of the great length of time the 
action lasted, and made the result for a time, doubtful. 
When the Niagara passed to windward of the Law- 
rence, she appeared to have sustained little or no in- 
jury. After the action closed, the censure on the be- 
havior of Captain Elliot was general and severe, not 
only by the officers of the Lawrence, but those of the 
small vessels ; so much so, that the officers did not hes- 
itate to say, that Captain Elliot must have been actu- 
ated by cowardly or ambitious motives, until it was 
made known, through Lieutenant Turner, that it was 
the wish of Commodore Perry to suppress any reports 
prejudicial to Captain Elliot. In conversation with 
some of the British officers, some time after the action, 
I heard them give as a reason for the Queen Char- 



112 capt. brownell's affidavit. 

lotte's changing her position and firing upon the Law- 
rence, was in consequence of the Niagara, Captain 
Elliot, being at so great a distance, that the short guns 
of their vessels could not be used with effect. It was 
reported, that Captain Elliot, at the close of the action, 
behaved in an unofficer-like manner on board the schr. 
Somers, by beating a captain of a gun with a trumpet, 
for laughing as he clogded a shot which passed over 
him from the enemy. It was the received opinion in 
the fleet, that the Niagara had but one or two men 
wounded, on board of her, when Commodore Perry took 
the command, and that she had sustained but slight in- 
jury previous to that time. I frequently heard, after 
Commodore Perry left the station, that Captain Elliot, 
then in command, had circulated reports, among the 
citizens as well as officers, respecting the conduct of 
Commodore Perry immediately after he got on board 
the Niagara, which were calculated to injure Commo- 
dore Perry, and were honorable to himself. 

(Signed) THOS. BREESE." 



Copy of the affidavit of Captain Thomas Brozvnell, Sail- 
ing Blaster of the United States schooner Ariel, in 
the action of the 10th of September, 1813. 

" In the action on the 10th of September, 1813, be- 
tween the American squadron, commanded by Commo- 
dore Perry, and the British, under Commodore Barclay, 
on Lake Erie, when we were about a mile distant from 
the enemy, he commenced firing. The signal was 
made by Commodore Perry, " Engage as you come up. 



CAPT. BROWNELL'S AFFIDAVIT. 113 

each vessel against her opponent, as previously designa- 
ted." The situation of the Niagara should have been 
abreast of the Queen Charlotte, and as near as she 
could get ; as previous to the action, I had always un- 
derstood that it was Commodore Perry's intention to 
bring the enemy to close quarters as soon as possible 
in case of an action. 

The Lawrence went gallantly into close action, but 
the Niagara continued to keep at a much greater dis- 
tance astern than when the action commenced. 

The Queen Charlotte made sail soon after the action 
began, and closed with the Detroit, for the purpose of 
directing her fire at the Lawrence in conjunction with 
the Detroit. The Niagara, by backing her maintop- 
sail and brailing up her jib, was not enabled to fire but 
at long shots, with her bow guns, for a long time dur- 
ing the action. A few minutes before Commodore 
Perry went on board the Niagara, she ranged ahead 
of the Lawrence and to windward of her, bringing the 
Commodore's ship between her and the enemy, when 
it was in Captain Elliot's power to have passed to lee- 
ward and relieved the Lawrence from the destructive 
fire of the Detroit and Queen Charlotte, the wind being 
at that time southeast and the American squadron steer- 
ing large, with the exception of the Lawrence, she be- 
ing at that time entirely disabled and unmanageable. 
It was the opinion of the officers and men of the squad- 
ron, that Captain Elliot did not do his duty on the 10th 
of September, and that, had his conduct been that of a 
brave man, there is no possible reason that can be 
given why his vessel was not brought into close action 
10 



114 capt. brownell's affidavit. 

with the British squadron long before Commodore Per- 
ry went on board of her, she being equal in point of 
sailing with the Lawrence. Great indignation was 
expressed by the officers in general at the base con- 
duct of Captain Elliot in neglecting to support the 
Lawrence ; but understanding from Lieutenant Turner 
that Commodore Perry wished to screen Captain Elliot, 
we forbore to make any remarks publicly on his con- 
duct. The Volunteers, however, not being actuated 
by the same motives that induced those under the com- 
mand of Commodore Perry to remain silent, expressed 
their feelings without any reserve whatever. At the 
close of the action, Captain Elliot was on board of the 
schooner Somers, and behaved, as I am told by the 
officers of that vessel, in a manner altogether unbecom- 
ing an officer, by beating a captain of a gun severely 
with a speaking trumpet for laughing when he (Captain 
Elliot) dodged a shot. 

He also arrested the commanding officer of that ves- 
sel (Sailing Master Almy) for intoxication, and I have 
frequently been informed, by the officers and men of 
that vessel, that he was in a perfect state of sobriety 
and did every thing that a brave man could do to de- 
stroy the enemy. I was ordered to that vessel a few 
hours after the action and found him perfectly sober 
but his feelings much wounded by Captain Elliot's 
false report. I was told by Lieut. Champlin and oth- 
ers, that Captain Elliot said he regretted he did not 
sacrifice the American fleet, and that it was decidedly 
in his power to have done so. Captain Elliot applied 
to me for a certificate of his conduct in that action ; I 



capt. taylor's affidavit. 115 

told him I could not say any thing in his favor, and 
that I stood ready at any time to give my sentiments 
before a court of investigation. After the action, I was 
on board the Caledonia, when Captain Bignall, of the 
British navy, remarked, that had Captain Elliot be- 
longed to the British navy, he would have been hanged. 
Mr. Magrath, who signed a letter prejudicial to the 
character of Captain Perry, told me he would sacrifice 
his right arm if he could withdraw his name from that 
paper. 

(Signed) THOMAS BROWNELL. 



Copy of the affidavit of Captain. William V. Taylor, 
Sailing Master of the United States brig Lawrence, 
in the action of the Wth of September, 1813. 

I am reques'H to state such facts as came within 
my knowledge relating to the battle on Lake Erie, on 
the 10th of September, 1813, at which time I was 
Sailing Master on board the Lawrence. Our squad- 
ron was then lying in Put-in-Bay, with some small isl- 
ands, of which Snake Island was the chief, to the lee- 
ward. At day light, the enemy's squadron was dis- 
covered in the N. W. from the masthead of the Law- 
rence ; when Commodore Peny immediately ordered 
the signal made to get under way. After we had got 
under way, he asked me if I thought we should be 
able to work out to windward of the islands in time to 
gain the weathergage of the enemy. I replied, that 
I did not think we could, the wind then being at S. W. 



116 capt. Taylor's affidavit. 

and light. The Commodore then said he would wear 
ship, and go to leeward of the islands, as he was deter- 
mined to bring the enemy to battle that day, even if he 
gave them the weathergage. The wind, however, at 
this time hauled to the southward and eastward, and 
enabled us to clear the islands, and keep the weather 
gage. At 10 a. m. the enemy, despairing of gaining 
the wind, hove to in line, with their heads to the west- 
ward, at about three leagues distance ; the wind then 
about S. E. and a light breeze. The signal to prepare 
for action was made from the Lawrence, at a quarter 
before meridian. The enemy's flag ship fired a single 
shot at the Lawrence. Signal was made for each ves- 
sel to engage her opponent, as designated in previous 
orders ; which made the Lawrence opposed to the en- 
emy's new ship Detroit, and the Niagara to the Queen 
Charlotte. Commodore Ferry then ordered the word 
passed by trumpet, through Captain Elliot, for the 
American squadron to close up, as before prescribed, 
which tvas at half cable's length distance. At merid- 
ian, finding the enemy within reach of our carronades, 
opened our fire, and continued nearing them until with- 
in canister range, and were gallantly supported by the 
Caledonia, Lieutenant Turner, and by the Ariel and 
Scorpion, both on our weather bow. Shortly after the 
action commenced, I observed the Niagara to be a 
considerable distance astern, with her main topsail to 
the mast, and her jib brailed up : and I am strongly 
impressed with the belief, that her top gallant sails were 
never set until Com. Perry went on board of her, after 
the Lawrence had been disabled. Once or twice dur- 



capt. Taylor's affidavit. 117 

ing the engagement, I asked Captain Perry if he ob- 
served the conduct of that ship, and the different con- 
duct of the Caledonia. The enemy's ship, Queen 
Charlotte, taking advantage of the great distance at 
which the Niagara kept herself, closed with the De- 
troit, and opened her fire in concert with that ship up- 
on the Lawrence, which proved so destructive that, by 
half past one o'clock, p. m., we were completely disa- 
bled, and our decks covered with killed and wounded : 
but the animating exertions of Captain Perry kept 
alive the spirits of the small remnant of our crew, and 
the action was continued until only one gun could be 
fired, at which Captain Perry assisted himself. He 
then determined to quit the Lawrence, and take com- 
mand of the Niagara, which ship he observed did not 
appear to be much injured. The American flag, he 
said, should not be hauled down from over his head on 
that day. At the time of Captain Perry's leaving the 
Lawrence, the Niagara was passing our larboard 
beam, at from a quarter to half a mile's distance; 
leaving the Lawrence between that ship and the ene- 
my. The Caledonia at the same time passing our 
starboard beam, and between us and the enemy. I 
anxiously watched the course of our noble commander, 
after he left the Lawrence for the Niagara. The en- 
emy had discovered his design, and directed their fire 
at the boat he was in. He however remained stand- 
ing up in her stern, until the entreaties of the men pre- 
vailed upon him to sit down. I learnt afterwards, that 
they had implored him with tears not to expose him- 
self as a mark for the enemy's fire; and finally de- 
10* 



118 



CAPT. TAYLOR'S AFFIDAVIT. 



clared, that they would lay on their oars, unless he sal 
down. It was a considerable time, with all the exer- 
tions of the boat's crew, before Captain Perry could 
come up with the Niagara. When he did get on board 
that ship, he immediately brought her into action ; and 
passing through the enemy's squadron, poured into 
them a tremendous fire from both sides. In a few 
minutes, the enemy's vessels surrendered to him, and 
struck their colors, except two small vessels, which 
attempted to escape, but were pursued and captured. 

I had assisted in the equipment of the Niagara, as 
well as the Lawrence. The former ship was in all 
respects fully equal to the latter, in size — in number, 
weight, and description of guns — in rigging and equip- 
ment, and in point of sailing. Before Captain Elliot 
arrived on Lake Erie, the Niagara was commanded 
by Lieutenant Turner, and the squadron had already 
been out one cruise, manned chiefly with volunteer 
militia. Captain Elliot brought up with him from On- 
tario from 90 to 100 prime men; the chief part of 
which he took on board the Niagara, which ship was 
much better manned than the Lawrence ; a great pro- 
portion of whose crew was on the sick list, and most of 
the remainder not effective men ; consisting chiefly of 
volunteer militia of all descriptions, and exhausted by 
previous exertions. I was on board the Niagara, when 
Captain Elliot took command of her, and when that 
part of her crew which came from the Ontario first 
came on board, and I observed that as they came along- 
side in their boats, he called out from among them the 
men previously designated for the different posts and 



€apt. Taylor's affidavit. 119 

stations about the ship and tops ; so that it appeared 
that his men were already selected. This occasioned 
my observing to Commodore Perry, that the different 
vessels of the squadron were very unequally manned, 
in consequence of so great a proportion of the effective 
men being engrossed by the Niagara alone. He did 
not think proper, however, to make any alteration. 
All necessary orders previous to the engagement were 
distinctly given in writing, and put into the hands of 
each commander ; and the last words of Commodore 
Perry, to all the officers assembled on the eve of the 
battle, (as was related to me at the time) were, that he 
could not advise them better than in the words of Lord 
Nelson — " If you lay your enemy alongside, you cannot 
he out of your place." After the firing had commenced 
on the part of the enemy, at about a mile's distance, 
Commodore Perry gave an order by trumpet for the 
vessels astern to close up in the line. The Niagara 
was then near enough to the Lawrence to receive and 
pass this order. I do not think she was, during the 
engagement, much nearer to the enemy than she then 
was, until brought into action by Commodore Perry. 
It was generally understood, that one or two only of her 
men had then been wounded. If it had been the desire 
of the commander of the Niagara to have joined in the 
action, and engaged the Queen Charlotte, as ordered. 
I know of no cause which could have prevented his so 
doing. The wind, though light, was favorable, and 
there was as much of it for the Niagara as for the Laio- 
rence. It was the general opinion of the officers after 
the battle, that had the Niagara followed the example 



120 DR. parsons' letter. 

of the Lawrence, the enemy would have been com- 
pelled to surrender in a much shorter time, and with 
much less loss on our side. So much indignation was 
excited by the conduct of the Niagara, that even the 
seamen broke out in open murmurs : but Commodore 
Perry requested the officers to silence every complaint 
against Captain Elliot, saying, that sufficient honor had 
been gained for all ; and he was desirous that the pub- 
lic attention might not be attracted to any differences 
in the fleet. His official account, when read at Erie, 
gave much dissatisfaction to most of the officers. They 
thought Captain Elliot too honorably mentioned in it. 
(Signed) W. V. TAYLOR. 



Letter of Dr. Usher Parsons, to Dr. C. G. Perry, son 
of the late Commodore Perry, ivho requested, from 
him an account of what occurred in the Surgical De- 
partment of the tattle, and who has obligingly per- 
mitted us to insert it. 

The crews of the nine vessels consisted of about six 
hundred officers and men. They left Erie four weeks 
previous to the action, in good health, but were soon 
visited by a bilious fever, which spread through the 
fleet, attacking from twenty to thirty in a day. It was 
of short duration, and in one instance only proved fa- 
tal. So rapid were the recoveries, that of more than 
two hundred cases, only seventy-eight were reported 
unfit for duty on the day previous to the action* 



DR. parsons' letter. 121 

Thirty-one of these were on board the Lawrence, and 
nearly the same number on board the Niagara — their 
whole crews exceeding one hundred and thirty persons 
each. 

There were three medical officers attached to the 
fleet, viz. Dr. Barton, Surgeon of the Niagara, Dr. 
Horsely, Surgeon of the Lawrence, and myself, Sur- 
geon's Mate. The sick of the seven smaller vessels 
were placed under the sole charge of the Surgeon's 
Mate. 

Among the sufferers from fever were all the medi- 
cal officers. The Surgeon's Mate, being first attacked, 
was convalescent and on duty before the others were 
disabled, and for some days previous and subsequent 
to the battle, had sole charge of the sick of the fleet, 
including the two Surgeons. 

The enemy's fleet was discovered from the mast 
head at 5 o'clock, a. m., and at 7, all the vessels could 
be seen from the deck. At 9, began the busy scene 
of casting loose guns, drawing around them supplies of 
balls, grape and canister, arranging pikes and cut- 
lasses, and girding on pistols for boarding, hammering 
flints, and lighting matches. Mutual requests passed 
between individuals, for the survivor to notify the friends 
of the non-survivor and to take charge of his effects ; 
and the Commodore handed to the Surgeon a package 
of papers, inclosed in lead, to be thrown overboard in 
the event of his falling. 

The shallowness of the vessels allowing no place of 
security for the wounded, they were received upon the 
wardroom floor, which was on a level with the surface 



122 DR. parsons' letter, 

of the water, and about ten feet square. The hatch- 
way leading from this room to the deck was closed, 
leaving a small aperture for passing cartridges through 
from the magazine to the deck. Men were stationed 
forward at the main hatchway to receive the wounded 
and pass them through the steerage to the wardroom, 
and to take them again from the Surgeon forward to 
the berth deck. 

At 10 o'clock, martial music struck up the thrilling 
sound of " all hands to quarters!" The fighting flag 
was then displayed at mast head, and the valor and 
patriotism of the crew appealed to by the Commodore, 
which they responded to with three hearty cheers. 

A breathless stillness now reigned through the ship, 
more dreary below deck from the dim twilight of 
the apartment. The dread scene too, so near at 
hand, was painted by the imagination in horrid forms, 
yet mingled with buoyant hopes of victory and of again 
seeing home and kindred. But the scene changed. 
Suddenly we were roused from a long reverie of fore- 
boding suspense, by the electrifying sound of the ene- 
my's cannon ; and soon followed the deafening thunders 
of our own broadsides — the crash of balls hulling our 
bulwarks, and the shrieks of the wounded upon deck ! 

The wounded poured clown so fast that nothing fur- 
ther was attempted for them during the battle, than 
securing bleeding arteries and applying splints to shat- 
tered limbs, and severing from the body such limbs as 
hung by small portions of flesh. Several after receiv- 
ing this treatment were again wounded ; a young offi- 
cer while moving from me with a tourniquet on th® 






DR. parsons' letter. 123 

arm, received a cannon ball in the chest ; and a sea- 
man with both arms fractured was afterwards killed 
by a cannon ball. 

The battle raged with great fury ; and in an hour 
and a half, had so far swept the decks that new appeals 
for surgical aid were less frequent, a remission at this 
time most welcome, as the repeated request of the 
Commodore to spare him another man, had taken the 
last one stationed to assist in moving the wounded ; and 
it is worthy of record, that several of the wounded, 
themselves, crawled upon deck at this critical period, 
to lend a feeble hand at the guns. 

But our prospects continued to darken ; every new 
visiter from the deck bringing tidings still more dismal 
than the last, till finally it was announced that we had 
surrendered. The effect of this upon the wounded 
was overwhelming. Medical aid was rejected, and 
little else could be heard, than, " sink the ship ; let us 
all sink together." 

This state of despair, was, however, short. The 
Commodore was still unhurt — had gone on board the 
Niagara, and with the small vessels bearing down up- 
on the enemy, soon brought down the flags of their two 
heaviest ships, which changed the horrors of defeat 
into shouts of victory. 

But all the wounded were not permitted to mingle in 
the joy. The gallant Brooks, and some others, were 
no more.* They were too much exhausted by their 



* I stated in an affidavit some years since, that the wound- 
ed, from the first of their coming down, complained that the 
Niagara did not come to her station and close with the Queen 



124 DR. parsons' letter. 

wounds to survive the tumultuous scene that immedi- 
ately preceded this happy transition. 

The action terminated shortly after three o'clock ; 
and, of about one hundred men reported as fit for duty 
in the morning, twenty-two were found dead and sixty- 
one wounded. The wounded arteries occupied my 
first attention ; all which, except where amputation 
was required, were rendered secure before dark. Hav» 
ing no medical assistant, I deemed it safer to defer am- 
putations till morning, and in the meantime suffered 
the tourniquets to remain on the limbs. Nothing more 
was attempted during the night, than to administer opi- 
ates and cordials, and preserve shattered limbs in a 
uniform position. At daylight a patient was on the 
table for an amputation ; and at eleven o'clock, all am- 
putations were finished. The impatience of this class 
of wounded to meet the operation, made it necessary 
to take them in the order in which they fell. The 
other wounded occupied my attention till midnight. 

The day following, I visited the wounded of the Nia- 
gara, who had lain till that time (48 hours) with their 
wounds undressed. The Surgeon was sick in bed, 
with hands too feeble to execute the dictates of a feel- 
ing heart. Twenty-one wounded were mustered, all of 
whom, that required surgical aid, were taken on board 
the Lawrence, now used as a hospital ship for the 
wounded of the whole fleet. The officers of the Nia- 
gara afterwards sent me the names of four more wound- 



Charlotte, although ordered to do so by signal. This corru 
plaint I well remember, was frequently repeated by the ofru 
cers, and in such terms as will never be forgotten. 



dr. parsons' letter. 125 

ed, who were absent from the ship on duty when I was 
on board, which increased her whole number to twenty- 
five, as reported in the official account. It was as- 
certained by inquiry, that only two of them were 
wounded before Perry came on board the Niagara. 
The whole number killed was two, as officially re- 
ported by her commander to the Commodore. 

I am the more particular here, because it has been 
stated in an affidavit sent to Captain Elliot in 1821, by 
the Surgeon of the Niagara, "that the exact number, 
including those dangerously wounded, was twenty- 
seven, and the slight cases not reported must have 
amounted to six or eight more — that five were killed 
during the action, and a few died soon after."* 

This intelligence from his Surgeon must have been 
new and unexpected to Captain Elliot, as it was never 
heard of in the fleet during the subsequent year of its 



[* The publisher has seen the affidavit alluded to, of Dr. Bar- 
ton, and also an attempt, by Captain Elliot, or some anony- 
mous writer in his service, to array it against the statement 
of Dr. Parsons, relative to the number of killed and wounded 
on board the Niagara. But Dr. Barton's sickness at the time, 
must excuse his ignorance of the fact, that the official list of 
killed and wounded in each vessel was made out and certified 
to by their respective officers. That the reader may be enabled 
to determine whether Dr. Barton's or Dr. Parsons' statement 
is most to be relied on, we here subjoin an extract of a letter, 
written shortly after the battle, by Commodore Perry to the 
Secretary of the Navy, respecting the services of the medical 
officers. 

" Of Dr. Parsons, surgeon's mate, I cannot say too much. 
In consequence of the indisposition of both surgeons, Drs. 
Horscley and Barton, the duly of operating, dressing, and at- 
tending a hundred wounded, and as many sick, devolved en- 
tirely on him ; and it must be pleasing to you, sir, to reflect, 
tha*, of the whole number, onlv three have died."] 
11 



126 A PRIVATE LETTER. 

sailing on the lake, and is at variance with the report 
of the officers of the Niagara who furnished the names 
of the wounded at the time, whilst the Surgeon was 
sick in his hammock. 

TOTAL LIST OF KILLED AND WOUNDED IN THE FLEET. 

Lawrence, 22 killed, 61 wounded. 

Niagara, 2 « 25 

Caledonia, 3 

Somers, 2 

Ariel, 1 " 3 

Trippe, 2 

Scorpion, 2 



Si 

a 
a 

a 



a 



Total, 27 " 96 

Killed in the British vessels 41, wounded 94. 
Of the whole number wounded in the American 
fleet, three died. The recovery of so large a propor- 
tion, is in some measure attributable to their being 
abundantly supplied with fresh provisions and pure 
w r ater, to a pure atmosphere under an awning upon 
deck, to the cheerful state of mind occasioned by vic- 
tory, and to the devoted attention of the Commodore to 
every want. 

The following is an extract of a private letter from 
an officer of the United States Navy, who was an 
eyewitness of the scene described : 

October 7, 1818. 

" Had I been able, I should before now have sent 
you some particulars of the action of the memorable 
10th of September. As we have not many letter wri- 
ters in our squadron, the public will have to put up 






A PRIVATE LETTER. 127 

with the Commodore's ' round, unvarnished tale ;' 
which, however, is very well told. All the fault I find 
with it is, that he himself is too much in the back 
ground. 

" In no action fought this war has the conduct of the 
commanding officer been so conspicuous or so evidently 
decisive of the fate of the battle, as in this. When he 
discovered that nothing further could be done in the 
Lawrence, he wisely removed to the Niagara, and by 
one of the boldest and most judicious manoeuvres ever 
practised, decided the contest at once. Had the Niag- 
ara shared the fate of the Lawrence, it was his intention 
to have removed to the next best vessel, and so on as 
long as one of his squadron continued to float. The 
enemy saw him put off, and acknowledged that they 
fired a broadside at him. With his usual gallantry he 
went off standing up in the stern of the boat ; but the 
crew insisted on his sitting down. The enemy speak 
with admirati< - of the manner in which the Lawrence 
bore down upon them. She continued her course so 
ling and so obstinately, that they thought we were 
going to board them. They had a great advantage in 
having long guns. Many of our men were killed on 
the berth deck and in the steerage, after they were 
taken below to be dressed. — Midshipman Laub was of 
this number. One shot went through the light room, 
and knocked the snuff of the candle into the magazine 
— the gunner happened to see it immediately, and ex- 
tinguished it with his hand : 2 shot passed through the 
magazine ; 2 through the cabin ; 3 or 4 came into the 
ward room — but I believe only one went quite through, 



128 ELLIOT'S LETTER TO PERRY. 

and that passed a few inches over the surgeon's head 
as he sat in the cockpit. Our short guns lodged their 
shot in the bulwarks of the Detroit ; where a number 
of them now remain. Her bulwarks, however, were 
vastly superior to ours, being of oak, and very thick. 
Many of their grape shot came through ours. They 
acknowledge that they threw combustible matter on 
board of us, which set our sails and rigging on fire in 
several places. I am clearly of opinion, that they 
were better manned than we were. They had a much 
greater number — they had veteran troops — their men 
were all well. We had as motley a crew as ever went 
into action ; and our vessels looked like hospital ships." 



Letter from Captain Elliot to Captain Perry. [No date.] 

Sir : Communications which have recently been 
made me, and exact copies of which I herewith enclose 
you, render it necessary that I should hear from you 
immediately. As soon as I heard of your late visit to 
Washington, I lost no time in hurrying off from this 
place, with a hope that we should meet and settle those 
differences which have so long existed ; your sudden, 
and to me unexpected, departure from that city, pre- 
vented the contemplated meeting ; and my orders to 
sit on a Court Martial, in Baltimore, which detained 
me from this place longer than I at first expected, has 
induced me to return to Virginia, and instead of the 
personal interview, which had alone carried me from 
home, and which I had so anxiously hoped for would 
take place, now compels me to address you at a mo* 



Elliot's letter to perry. 129 

rnent when I might seem if prompted by the late public 
investigation of your Mediterranean command. 

The wrongs which I have suffered are many ; and 
after taking a retrospect of all the transations connected 
with our affairs which have been made public, I am at 
a loss to know how it was possible you could have 
made such representations as are contained in the cer- 
tificates herewith enclosed. Immediately after the ac- 
tion on Lake Erie, you must recollect, that reports 
prejudicial to my character were put in circulation ; 
when I called on vou for a written contradiction of 
them, (your answer, I presume, is in your possession) 
}'ou say in your letter, " You have no fault to find with 
myself, officers, and crew — compliment me by saying, 
you are indebted in a great measure, for the victory, 
to my bringing the small vessels into close action," and 
conclude, with a positive assertion, that the Niagara 
would, from her superior order, have taken the Queen 
Charlotte in tw r enty minutes, had she not made sail and 
engaged the Lawrence. 

What, sir, has since occurred, to draw from you such 
base, false, and malicious reports, as contained in the 
certificates enclosed ? I will conclude my remarks 
with one or two observations, and permit you to draw 
such inferences as your feelings of honor may dictate ; 
hoping, that you will never again have occasion, either 
in the society of the ladies, or that of young navy offi- 
cers, to make use of expressions of a similar nature, 
and which, too, intended to my injury. Pray, sir, has 
your memory been so treacherous, as to fail recollect- 
ing an interview at Erie, and that you then said, "if I 



130 perry's REPLY TO ELLIOT. 

would not dwell on the action, that you would write a 
private letter to the Hon. Secretary of the Navy, and 
express your surprise that the country did not give me 
half the honor in the victory 1 With proper respect, 

J. D. ELLIOT/' 



Commodore Perry's reply to Captain Elliot. 

Newport, (R. I.) June 18, 1818. 

Sir : The letter which I have lately received from 
you has evidently been written lor the purpose of be- 
ing exhibited to your friends, and in the hope that, 
passing without reply, it might gain credit among those 
upon whom you have been long in the habit of prac- 
tising similar impositions. You had much reason, sir, 
to indulge in such a hope. 

It is humiliating to be under the necessity of reply- 
ing to any letters written by a person who so little 
knows what becomes a gentleman. I must not, how- 
ever, permit you to derive from my silence any coun- 
tenance to the gross falsehoods contained in your let- 
ter, and which it would be an affectation of decorum to 
call by any other name; sue!) particularly, is the absurd 
declaration you impute to me in the close of it, and the 
perverted account you give of the manner in which I 
was once induced to write a letter in your favor. How 
imprudent, as well as base, it is in you, by such mis- 
representations, to reduce me to the necessity of re- 
minding you of the abject condition in which I had pre- 
viously found you, and by which I was moved to af- 
ford you all the countenance in my power ; sick (or 
pretending to be sick) in bed, in consequence of clis- 



PERRY'S REPLY TO ELLIOT. 131 

tress of mind, declaring that you had missed the fairest 
opportunity of distinguishing yourself that ever man 
had, and lamenting so piteously the loss of your repu- 
tation," that I was prompted to make almost any effort 
to relieve you from the shame which seemed to over- 
whelm you. This, you very well know, was the ori- 
gin of the certificate I then granted you ; and that 
your letter to me, (of which you once furnished a false 
copy for publication, and which you now represent as 
making a demand upon me,) was merely an introduc- 
tion to mine. Another motive I had which you could 
not appreciate, but which I urged with success on the 
other officers : it resulted from a strong, and I then 
hoped, pardonable, desire that the public eye might 
only rest upon the gallant conduct of the fleet, and not 
be attracted to its blemishes, as I feared it would be 
by the irritation excited by your conduct among the 
officers and men, most of whom, I hoped, had acquired 
sufficient honor to gratify their ambition, even should that 
honor be shared by some one who might less deserve it. 
The expressions stated in your two certificates to 
have been made use of by me, when speaking of your 
unmanly conduct, were probably the most lenient I have 
for a long time employed when called upon to express 
my opinion of you ; and, thoroughly known, as you 
must be conscious your character is to me, it was quite 
needless for you to have procured certificates of the 
contempt with which I have spoken of you. You might 
readily, however, have furnished much more ample 
ones, and of a much earlier date, than those it has suit- 
ed you to produce ; for you allowed but little time to 



122 PERRY'S REPLY TO ELLIOT. 

elapse, after receiving the benefits of my letter, before 
your falsehoods and intrigues against me made me fully 
sensible of the error I had committed in endeavoring 
to prop so unprincipled a character. 

If it be really true that you hurried to Washington 
for the purpose of inviting me to a meeting, it is indeed 
unfortunate that intentions for which you give yourself 
so great credit have evaporated in a pitiful letter, which 
none but a base and vulgar mind could have dictated, 
The reputation you have lost is not to be recovered by 
such artifices ; it was tarnished by your own beha- 
vior on Lake Erie, and has constantly been rendered 
more desperate by your subsequent folly and habitual 
falsehoods. You cannot wonder at the loss : that rep- 
utation which has neither honor nor truth, nor courage 
for its basis, must ever be of short duration. Mean 
and despicable as you have proved yourself to be, I 
shall never cease to criminate myself for having devi- 
ated from the path of strict propriety, for the sake of 
screening you from public contempt and indignation, 
For this offence to the community I will atone, in due 
time, by a full disclosure of your disgraceful conduct. 
But that you, of all men, should exultingly charge me 
with an error committed in your favor, and b3 r which 
you were (as far as a man in your situation could be) 
saved from disgrace, is a degree of turpitude of which 
I had before no conception. O. H. PERRY. 



31+77-5 



